Rare Chance
by cheater boy - A
Summary: Sasuke held little Naruto's hand as they walked through the crowd that were smiling pleasantly at the latter. Sasuke's lips quirked upward, forming a small and genuine smile as the villagers greeted them, however, little Naruto was frightened at what the villagers might had in their minds to hurt him. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. Please leave me a review!
1. Chapter 1

**Note: Hi! Thank you for clicking this story, which had been nagging me since the other day while taking a bath. You see, I've had read some stories where Naruto was a boy and that his friends learned about what his childhood was like before and the likes, and it triggered some gears in my mind and this idea popped. I think this is unique because in here, the villagers will realized what they had done to Naruto when he was little and took the opportunity of him being a child once again to compensate for their wrong deed. Hope you'll like it!**

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_**Sasuke held little Naruto's hand as they walked through the crowd that were smiling pleasantly at the latter. Sasuke's lips quirked upward, forming a small and genuine smile as the villagers greeted them, however, little Naruto was frightened at what the villagers might had in their minds to hurt him.**_

* * *

Everyone stared incredulously at the blonde boy, who was wearing an oversized and battered orange jacket, in Sasuke's arms when Team Kakashi, along with the previous four Hokages, returned after Kaguya was sealed successfully.

The Third reanimated Hokage was consoling the terrified blonde boy after the seal was completed since said boy only recognized him. Apparently, the blonde boy's memories seemed to revert back to when he was a child and did not recognize anyone, but the Third. And, because he and the rest of the reanimated Hokage had to depart the world of the living, he explained to the boy that Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke were his friends and would not hurt him. The boy thankfully understood everything, but the thought of his old man leaving and his new found father brought tears to his eyes and he could not help but plead for them to stay.

It was a heartbreaking sight to see the boy cried to sleep and Sasuke had to carry him.

And that was how the now awake boy found himself in the arms of the raven haired teen and looked down meekly when they arrived at the group of ninjas from different nations, staring at him. When he looked up at the person carrying him, he saw something in those onyx eyes that stared back at him. He could not put it into words, but he was compelled by some sort of force telling him that he knew the person from a long time ago.

Sasuke took note of his friend's attitude towards the others. He expected for the boy to be loud and energetic, but no. His friend instead, seemed so meek and terrified of whatever it was and he wondered why. The boy was not the one he knew before though he could also say it to his self since he used to be kind and respectful when he was young, and not arrogant like he was now.

"What happened?" asked Tsunade, approaching Sasuke.

"Kaguya did something during the last minute. It was supposed to hit me, whatever it was she did, but Naruto had pushed me aside, and…this is the result." Sasuke replied as he gestured to the boy, Naruto, who immediately shied away from Tsunade. He then explained that apart from Naruto being a small kid again, he said that Naruto had no recollection of the battle and the people he befriended except the Third.

Tsunade frowned briefly at that before it morphed into a gentle smile and looked down at the kid, who gazed warily at her. She then reached out, touching Naruto's cheek, when the boy flinched violently and swatted the hand away as he latched to Sasuke, who was taken aback by the sudden negative reaction and so was she.

**. . . .**

It had been a week since the Allied Shinobi Forces arrived back to their villages. It had been also a week since the Hidden Leaf Villagers had a celebration for defeating the enemy and had known of Naruto's condition.

And, it had been a week; too, that little Naruto remained inside his room in Sasuke's apartment, which he bought right after their return.

The meeting that occurred some days ago had finally ended, and since then, Sasuke had been busy in settling down for a while as he took care of the blonde, who had not spoken at least a syllable since then, which worried him and the others. He would have Iruka or Kakashi to take care of Naruto, but said boy would latch at his leg and never let go. So, they all agreed to let the boy be under in Sasuke's wing until they find a formula to solve the problem that was little Naruto.

Sasuke was on his way back home with groceries one morning. He left his apartment so early when Naruto was still asleep to do some D-rank missions he was assigned last night and used his earned money for groceries. Before he left though, he wrote a note saying…

'There's food in the kitchen. Eat it.'

'-U. Sasuke'

…and left it on the nightstand in Naruto's room.

When he returned, it was the usual and he found it quite uneasy since he knew Naruto was inside the apartment, yet nobody even mind to greet him when he said 'I'm home.' So, with a sigh, he padded inside to the kitchen and settled down his bags of groceries. He then took out the contents one by one and placed it in the cupboards and others in the refrigerator. Once done, he stood from his crouch, dusted his palms, and went to see Naruto in his room.

Sasuke knocked on the door before opening it, knowing Naruto would ignore him.

There, inside, Naruto stood before the window, watching the kids outside play tag with a forlorn expression plastered on his face.

"Why don't you go out and play?"

Naruto flinched visibly, and Sasuke felt guilty for scaring the boy. The raven haired teen thought that the blonde boy knew he was there since he knocked before coming inside, but upon observing the latter, he found out that the boy was out of it.

Turning around casually, Naruto looked up at Sasuke.

"Don't you want to go out and play?" asked Sasuke once again.

The boy tilted his head down, staring at the floor. He wanted to go out and play, but he was afraid.

"C'mon. Speak to me, please?" the raven haired teen pleaded as he crouched down to the boy's level. Though hesitantly, he heard the boy mumbled something under his breath that he could not catch, so he gently asked said boy to repeat it louder.

"I…I do…" said Naruto in a small voice.

"Then, let's go out. I'm sure you'll find someone to play with." Sasuke smiled, glad that little Naruto was now responding to him.

"…No…I-I'll just stay here…" stuttered the boy, almost afraid, and Sasuke did not fail to notice it.

Sighing, the teen said, "Come on, Naruto. It's been a week and you never went outside. Do you know that it's not good for you?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Well, now you know. So, let's go out? I promise no one will hurt you, and in any case, I'll protect you."

At Sasuke's phrase, Naruto's eyes instantly brighten up a little.

"Promise?" asked the boy.

"Yes, I promise."

"You'll never go back to you word?"

"No. Never."

"Okay."

**. . . .**

The villagers smiled when they saw Sasuke holding Naruto's little right hand as they both walked the path to the park. Everyone greeted the boy, their hero, and were smiling pleasantly at him while some took the time to smother him, which almost resulted in panic attack had Sasuke not took him away from the crowd upon noticing his discomfort.

Sasuke was happy for his friend. He had seen Naruto when he was a child at the park one time, but he never paid heed to him since his mind was focused on his revenge to his brother. He had no idea of what kind of childhood Naruto had since he never socialized with the latter until they were put on the same team, though he merely interacted with him. He did not acknowledge Naruto's strength back then since he was the dead last of their batch, but as time went by, he noticed the blonde's fast growth. That was when jealousy started to grow inside him, and he did not like it. So, he did everything to take down the wall that was Naruto in order to gain strength. He came to hate the blonde until their first C-rank mission where he gained his Sharingan and saved Naruto's life. He did not know why he did it back then, and he knew he did not care if any of his teammates died, but it was different to Naruto. It was only during the recent war that he found out the answer.

Naruto was similar to him. They were both alone and felt no one acknowledged their existence and or strength. Both did their everything to be recognized.

They were similar in more ways than Sasuke thought.

But, apart from those similarities, one thing had struck him.

They were _brothers._

While Sasuke was happy to back home and with his brother-like friend and rival, Naruto was terrified.

He found it odd; the villagers who used to shun and scorn him were now smiling at him for some reason he did not know.

The smiles were all pleasant and genuine, but for the blonde boy's mind it registered as figures in human appearance with an evil smile reserved only for him to see and noticed. He looked up at his current guardian, who noticed his slight movement and turned to smile at him. The smile the raven haired teen gave him was similar to the others; evil. And so, frightened, he snatched his hand away and run off to opposite direction.

Sasuke gasped. "Naruto! Wait up!" he yelled, chasing after the boy.

Due to his nature as ninja, it was easy to catch up with his small charge though he had to give it to Naruto, who was fast for his small stature.

The blonde boy kept on thrashing in the raven haired teen's hold, and the latter had to embrace him tightly, whispering soothing words and reminded the boy of his promise, which worked.

Sasuke did not know what it was that made little Naruto run off. He thought maybe it was because of the crowd that kept on smothering the poor boy with their hugs, so he just carried the boy in his arms and flickered away to the park where no one was around, thankfully.

Settling the boy down, Sasuke crouched down and looked at those sad and scared blue eyes that were stuck on staring the dirt under their feet. The teen reached up with his left had to lift the boy's chin that was surprised at the action and looked at the teen with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" asked Sasuke with a frown that only showed concern for his friend. "Tell me…please." He added.

"…The…villagers…"

"What's with the villagers, Naruto?"

"I…I don't know." The boy looked down when he felt the hand holding his chin loosened. He could feel the teen's confusedness, so he said, "I mean…they hate me."

"Why would they hate you?"

"I dunno. They just do. I heard they said I'm a murderer…" the boy whispered the last word; his heart beating fast as the thought of Sasuke knowing the villagers' reason would change the teen's view of him and started hating him, too, which only brought tears to his eyes.

"Hey…don't cry. You're not a murderer, okay? You killed no one and would never kill anyone." _Except those you knew should die._ Sasuke added to himself.

"Really?" inquired Naruto, looking hopefully at Sasuke.

"Yes." The teen smiled gently at the boy. "You're my friend and you're like my brother to me. We're family, Naruto. Remember that. And I promise I'll never leave again."

"Again?" the boy cocked his head to the right.

"Oh. Um. No, I mean…" Sasuke stuttered before he sighed in defeat. "Just…just forget the word 'again'."

"Okay."


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: I was inspired to write this chapter last night, but I was too tired to start after the festival. So, today, after lunch I write this and now I'm posting this. Enjoy the chapter, and please leave me a review!**

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At the park where no one but Sasuke and little Naruto was at, the former stood straight and placed his hands on his hips, looking down at the latter that was looking back with curiosity. Sasuke had been through a lot during his childhood years, and even if Naruto had no clue of it then, he knew that the blonde before him knew what he was feeling. Likewise, Sasuke had no idea what Naruto's life used to be.

Now that the teen knew at least a little, if not most, he wondered why the Naruto he went to academy with could pull out such a happy and idiotic face.

_Hmm…now that I thought of it… why is this guy in front of me now is nothing like the Naruto I knew? Was it all a façade? Is this boy in front of me was the real one?_ Sasuke mused.

"Uhmm…" Naruto mumbled, which brought Sasuke back to reality before the latter could delve any deeper in his thoughts.

"Yes?" inquired the teen.

"What are we doing here? Outside." asked the boy meekly.

"I told you, didn't I? We're going to play." The teen reminded his little charge, and added, "And, you're going to play with other kids your age."

_But, nobody's here aside from us. _Naruto told Sasuke mentally even though the latter would not hear it. Instead, the boy asked, "Okay. What are we playing then?"

Sasuke thought back at the times he and his older brother, Itachi, had played. And, as far as he could remember, they only played ninjas and nothing more. Furthermore, when he got a little older, his brother would bring him to his mission and do the task assigned to the elder of the siblings together, which he concluded was not appropriate for his little charge who never played with other children before.

Waiting patiently, Naruto was trying to guess why his guardian looked troubled. _Is it because he noticed the villagers hated me and found out why!?_ He almost panic inwardly at the thought.

The teen raised a brow upon noticing Naruto's furrowed brows and worried eyes. Being a perceptive one, he said, "Hey, don't worry. You see, I don't know any kinds of games except ninjas and I think the game won't be good for you. So, do you have any suggestions?" he asked with a small and gentle smile on.

Little Naruto's worried expression morphed into a frown as he thought of games that they could play together. He had seen children playing in a group and knew a few like tag, hide and seek, ninjas, and the likes. But those games were played in a group and there were only two of them, which brought a sad expression on Naruto's face.

"Is there a problem?" Sasuke asked gently, hoping that Naruto would tell him what was bothering the boy.

Shaking his head, the boy replied, "No." he then told the teen that he was hungry.

Sasuke smiled, hiding his suspicion that Naruto was lying and playing along. "Alright. Ramen, then?" he asked, knowing the answer already, and received a tentative nod from the boy. Then, he held his left hand out and gestured to the boy to hold it before they walked out of the park and into the place where he knew the boy would love.

. . . .

It was weird, Naruto thought as he slurped his miso ramen. He had been quite since they had reached the town until now, and Sasuke was guessing what was up to the former, which made him think how the boy was like an open book, yet you could not understand him.

_What's wrong with him, really?_ The teen asked his self. _I need to know what, so I could help him get through with it._

It was known to many that Sasuke was cold and arrogant, and not the polite and kind-hearted kid he used to be before his clan was slaughtered, which was apparently erased to everyone else. But, now that he learned the truth and was enlightened by the previous four Hokages, his old self was slowly emerging from its confines. And, the teen admitted that it was good to be back.

He did not have to worry to get stronger for revenge, and he did not have to revenge anymore.

All he wanted now was to get stronger to protect his people.

Naruto had eaten all the noodles, beef, and fishcakes in his bowl of miso ramen, and the only thing that was left was its broth. Placing his chopsticks aside, he grasped the bowl with two hands and brought its rim on his mouth to sip the contents before putting it back down.

"Thanks for the food." The blonde boy mumbled; eyes locked on his lap. And, just then, a Commoner ninja appeared behind him and Sasuke via body flicker. Said ninja had slightly tan skin, dark brown beady eyes, and short unruly black hair.

"Uchiha, the Hokage wanted you in her office right now." said the new comer, startling little Naruto, who visibly flinched.

With a nod of acknowledgement, Sasuke spun on his seat and faced the ninja as he stood up. "Hm. I'll e there. Just give me five minutes to walk Naruto home."

"I'm sorry, but the Hokage said it's urgent."

"Fine." The teen sighed. He then turned to Naruto and crouched to the boy's eye level. "Will you be alright if you walk home alone?"

Not wanting to burden his guardian, Naruto gave Sasuke a meek nod and hopped down from his seat.

"I'll be going then. Stay out of trouble." Said Sasuke, patting the boy's head. And with that, he set off to the Hokage's office with the Commoner ninja, leaving Naruto on his own devices.

The boy sighed, saying, "I guess…it's not that scary to go home alone, is it?"

. . . .

The villagers smiled genuinely at little Naruto as he passed by them. He had been wondering why people suddenly seemed to like him. He did not do anything to make them hate him and neither did he do anything yet to make them like him, so it made him think what the villagers were now up to, which unnerved him quite bad.

For him, those smiles were taunting him, mocking him in some ways that if he did something other than walk back home, they would start laughing hysterically at him.

_They're scary… I wish Sasuke was here. At least with him I feel secure._ The boy, who had his head down and eyes on his feet, frowned. He was not paying attention to where he was going, afraid to see those smiles, and accidentally ran into someone, making him stumbled back and landed on his rear.

"Ow." Naruto grunted, nursing his sore part, and looked up to see whom he ran into and froze. _Oh-oh. She's going to hit me with her tray!_ Alarmed, he quickly stood from his fall, ignoring the pain he was feeling and apologized frantically.

The woman whom he had ran into was the owner of the bakeshop that was at the right side. She wore beige dress under a brown apron and a tray tightly grasped in her hands that were against her lap. She seemed older than Naruto remembered, but he knew that the lady before him was terrifying if you mess with her.

Finding Naruto's frantic apologies cute; the woman just giggled and told the boy to stop it. "I know it was unintentional and one 'sorry' is enough, boy. Anyway, are you going home?"

"U-uhmm… ye-yes, I am." Stuttered Naruto.

"I see. Why don't you come in and have a free taste of my new cup cake recipe?" she asked with a smile, hoping little Naruto would agree.

_Oh no! She's going to poison me now! I knew it!_ He screamed mentally, which showed in his face and the woman did not fail to notice it.

"What wrong?" she tilted her head a little to the right.

"No-nothing!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sa-sasuke treated m-me to some r-r-ramen, so… I'm n-not hungry. And-and, I-I'm sorry!" he bowed down before the woman desperately and run off as fast as he could.

Frowning, the woman wondered why Naruto seemed to be scared of her. _Why?_ She asked herself, and as though someone gave her answer, a memory of her from thirteen years ago surfaced where little Naruto, who was four at the time, stood in front of her shop, staring at the delightful sight of breads and cakes with a finger in his mouth. When she saw the boy from the counter, she hurried outside, grabbing a tray from a nearby desk on her way, and scared the poor boy out of her shop.

_Maybe…he remembered that day and is now afraid of me._ The woman thought sadly.

. . . .

Naruto was panting hard, but it did not stop him running until he took a sharp turn into the alley to his right and ran straight to a drunk man.

Said drunk man had a bulky appearance, bald and had dark gray beard; he wore a dirty white sleeveless and black cargo pants. He glared at the fallen boy and yelled, "Where the hell are you looking at!?"

"Sasuke…" the blonde boy quivered. "…help me…" and then, he whimpered under the man's glare. He was now hyperventilating, too terrified at what the drunk man might do to him if he did not apologize. Thinking it would somehow cool off the man at least a little and save himself, he scrambled up and said sorry to the man countless times whilst bowing.

However, the man was unsatisfied with it and the boy's frantic moves only annoyed him more, so, without thinking rationally, he slapped the boy on his left cheek with his left back with such force that sent Naruto flying across and hit his head on the wall pretty hard before falling limply.

The man panted, flaring his nostrils. Then, not a minute had passed the man realized what he had done now that the alcohol he had intake was finally wearing off him. He recoiled upon seeing blood pooling beneath the unconscious boy from the head wound and panicked. Not wanting to take the blame, he decided to hide the boy in the trash bin, and cleaned the blood on his arms and hands that he got from carrying the boy with Naruto's shirt before tossing it and fled the area.

. . . .

Sasuke was given a C-rank mission by the Hokage in which he had to do background investigation of a certain man that was currently in his village and would depart any moment of the day. His mission would probably last a week or so.

He knew why the mission was urgent; it was because the man that he was to investigate was someone that was hard to find, and the only chance he could get information of the man was if he could follow him. And, the reward for the mission was forty thousand ryo, so he could not decline the mission. He could not leave Naruto alone, though. But then, he knew Iruka was an academy teacher, so he thought maybe he could leave Naruto in his care until he get back from his mission. He was sure the man will not mind.

Finally, he reached his apartment, but something seemed off. So, Sasuke jumped up to his floor and opened the door only to find it dark and quiet inside.

The apartment was always dark and quiet every time Sasuke got home, but this time was different.

He knew his little charge was not home yet, and so, the teen closed the door and locking it before sprinting out in searched of the blonde boy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: I am disappointed...of Naruto's latest manga chapter. If you're updated, you know what I mean. The fight against their enemy was sooo good and after defeating her I thought it was the beginning of the end and I asked myself 'what will happen then? Will Sasuke finally return back to Konoha and face whatever consequences and will Naruto be appointed as their next Hokage?'. I really thought they will be finally able to take a break until Sasuke did something stupid again. I know he wanted revolution and he has good intention, but the way he was doing it was...so frustrating. It frustrates me so much I cried after reading the last page.**

**Will they be able to take a rest? *sighs* 'cause I feel tired for them after the long battle.**

**Anyways...did I spoil anything? Pardon me then. I just wanted someone to know how I feel since I have no one to share my sentiment as of the moment. My dear cousin was nowhere to be found, you see.**

**Nah, too much for my sentiments. Let's read already!**

**Thanks for the reviews, favs, and alerts, by the way. I'm really glad to know people like this story.**

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Standing at the middle of the busy street was Sasuke, who sighed in frustration whilst ruffling his hair in annoyance. Furrowing his brows, he began to scan the area and found no little blonde boy. He had been looking for his small charge at the area near their apartment for approximately two minutes though he knew that Naruto would not be in any trouble since the boy was in Konoha and no one would dare hurt him because he was the hero after all. For all he knew, the boy was playing somewhere. But then, he could not ignore the anxiety he was feeling that was growing by each second.

Sasuke was about to leapt up when he caught sight of the man he was going to do background investigation at the corner of his eye and stopped.

The man was in his early thirties, wearing gray business suit and black bow tie. He was with someone, a male, which Sasuke assumed as his body guard or man servant.

"Tch." The raven haired teen was conflicted. His target was walking to the direction of the main gate, yet he had not found Naruto, and he was getting worried.

_What should I do now? If I follow the man, I won't be able to check on Naruto. And, if I go and continue on my search, there's a chance that I'll lost the man. Damn. I told that idiot to go home and not to mingle for too long._

But then again, Sasuke had to remind himself that the boy had no common sense.

_Because common sense is a sense that is not common to someone like him. _He grunted mentally.

Deciding that it would not do him good to just remain conflicted, Sasuke summoned a small snake and quickly ordered it to go to Kakashi and tell the Elite ninja to look for his little charge before he followed the man.

. . . .

_Where…_ thought Naruto, opening his eyes only to see nothing but black. He was disoriented and his head was in so much pain he thought it would explode. He tried to recall what happened to him, but thinking made his head throbbed painfully, so he stopped and just focused on his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was that there was something hard at his back. When he moved to his side to reached a hand behind, he opened his mouth in agony as excruciating pain shot through his spinal cord as though the most thin and long needle was pierced through him from his rear to the base of his neck for a second before it vanished like it had not happened. Then, the smell of strong iron assaulted his nose followed by a foul smell of rotten viand and other things, making him gagged

_What happened to me?_ He asked himself, and then groaned.

The boy may be disoriented and was not thinking rationally at the moment, but he knew for one that moving was not a good thing since it would make his head and back throb painfully, so he remained still whilst wondering how he got himself into the situation he was in.

And while he was trying to relax his body to lessen the numbing pain he was feeling, he was unaware of the blood that kept on flowing out of his head and back wound until it was too late for him since his brain had started to shut down and he fell into unconsciousness.

. . . .

Like the usual, Kakashi was found at the memorial stone by the snake Sasuke had summoned earlier. Nodding to the snake that dissipated in a smoke later, Kakashi turned to his heal and leaped up to a nearby tree branch before hopping his way back to the town to look for the missing blonde boy.

Naruto was hailed as the worse prankster in his village by most of the Konoha ninjas since he can easily evade his pursuers, but not Iruka, his mentor during his academy days, who was always the one to capture him.

When one would look back at those times, he would smile at how Naruto had grown into a fine ninja and finding him is he was hiding was proven to be difficult.

But, Naruto was not hiding, so Kakashi found it strange that he could not find his student anywhere even in his favourite spots.

The silver haired Elite hummed as he paved his way through the crowded street; looking at each alley ways he passed by. "Maybe Iruka can help." And with that, he flickered out and in front of the academy.

"Kakashi!" called Iruka upon seeing the Elite appeared in front of his working place, jogging on his way to the latter. "What brings you here?" he inquired as he stopped at Kakashi's left just three feet away.

"I can't seem to find Naruto. I was thinking maybe you could help me find him." replied Kakashi.

"Oh. Did you visit the Hokage Mountain?"

"Yes. But, he isn't there."

"How about at Ichiraku's Ramen shop?"

"I did."

"His apartment?"

"…" there was a five-minute silence before Kakashi said, "Why didn't I go there first?" earning a chuckle from Iruka.

"Come on. I'll tag along since the children were still in their lunch break."

With a nod from Kakashi, they both walked leisurely to their destination as if the matter was not urgent.

. . . .

Iruka and Kakashi were standing in front of Sasuke and Naruto's apartment with their back facing the door.

"Where is he?" Kakashi groaned.

Scratching his head, Iruka replied, "Dunno. But, maybe we can spread out our chakra to map out the village and see where Naruto is now."

The Elite turned his head to the right to face Iruka dejectedly saying, "Why didn't I think of that plan first? It should've saved us time."

"Yeah. As if you're making your time productive." Iruka looked at him sideways and smiled lopsidedly. "Anyway, I'm going to do it now-"

"Wait." Kakashi cut off. "Let me do it since it's my job."

"Okay."

And with that, the Elite of the two ninjas closed his eyes and concentrated on spreading a thin layer of his chakra throughout the village. He was not even halfway through when he picked up Naruto's deteriorating chakra at the direction of Ichiraku's Ramen, and snapped his eyes open. "This is bad." He said darkly, worrying his companion. "Iruka, we have to hurry!"

"What?" Iruka was dumfounded by Kakashi, who leaped away quickly, leaving him alone. Sensing the Elite's worry, he did not take a second guess as he followed the man.

After a minute of tension-filled silence between Iruka and Kakashi on their way, they landed simultaneously on the ground, facing a dark alley. Kakashi caught sight of a bloodied shirt, which he quickly grabbed and identified it as Naruto's and Iruka could only watched the silver haired man in worry.

"Is that…" Iruka trailed off.

"It's Naruto's." said Kakashi in a low voice. Looking around, he found a stain of blood on the rim of the trash bin. He quickly stood from his crouch and made his way to the trash bin, which he opened with a force and found little Naruto; bloodied, unconscious, and very pale.

"Oh my God…" whispered Iruka to nobody.


	4. Chapter 4

Tsuande was reading a scroll behind her desk in her office, researching for a way to return Naruto back to his original physical age, when a frantic knock on the door echoed inside her space. Scrunching up her face whilst glaring at the door in annoyance because of the sudden disturbance, the Hokage barked a 'come in!' and in walked was a panting Shizune with Ton-Ton the pig in her left arm.

"Master Tsunade!" exclaimed Shizune, earning an elegant raise of brow from her superior. Not waiting for a permission to speak, she said, "N-Naruto! He…"

"Naruto…he what?" Tsunade prompted.

"Someoned attacked him! Kakashi and Iruka found him in a trash bin all bloody!"

All the Hokage could do was widen her eyes as she stared in shock at her student; her mind was racing hundreds of miles as she thought of anything as to why Naruto was attacked, knowing that Konoha was in peace with other nations and no Akatsuki to look out. So, she concluded that someone in the village hurt the boy. But, why, she did not know.

. . . .

Iruka was slumping on the floor with his back resting on the wall behind him and head hung down in the hospital in front of the operating room where Naruto was currently tended by an experienced doctor in while Kakashi was standing and leaning back with both of his hands inside the pockets when the Hokage arrived at the area, rushing. The two noticed her arrival and the Commoner ninja was about to say something to their Hokage, however, said Hokage paid them no heed and proceeded inside to help whoever the doctor was in charge of the operation.

Kakashi merely watched as his companion sighed tiredly, hoping that his student would make it through since the boy was barely breathing when they made it to the hospital for help.

It was later at night when Tsunade walked out of the operating room and found two ninjas asleep on the floor across the room she just came out. She sighed and smiled tiredly at them, amused of how much they cared for Naruto to wait until they had fallen asleep, before taking three steps forward and shook the two awake.

Kakashi was the first one to open his eyes followed by Iruka with half a second and they both stood up straight upon seeing that their Hokage was standing in front of them.

"Lady Hokage…" trailed Kakashi off.

Knowing that her subordinates wanted to know Naruto's current status, Tsunade ushered them to her office and discuss the matter.

. . . .

Meanwhile, Sasuke found himself perched atop a tree branch, patiently watching the two men below prepared for the night.

Apparently, the two had yet to talk anything that would give him information that would possibly blow their way if they were indeed doing illegal things like the Hokage had suspected aside from the last dish the man in suit, his target, had eaten.

_I hope this won't take me more than a week._ Thought the raven haired teen with a frown; he was still worried of Naruto.

He believed and knew that Kakashi found the blonde boy and probably was sleeping by now, but the anxiety he was feeling since he left would not go away, rather, it only increased as time passed by. Since he knew worrying too much would hinder his mission, he made up his mind to brush his feeling off and make his mind focus on his target. _I'll just have to finish this task as soon as possible and go home._

. . . .

"I see." Tsunade let out an audible sigh as she slumped on her seat and said, "Whoever did this to him made sure to handicap him."

Kakashi, who was staring absentmindedly on the floor, snapped his head up to look at their Hokage. "Handicap?" he inquired lowly as though he was talking to himself, but the Hokage and the ninja beside shim, Iruka, heard him just loud enough.

"What do you mean, Lady Hokage?" asked Iruka, worried.

With another sigh, Tsunade said, "Naruto has head trauma. The hit on his head was pretty hard. Base on the test we run, he lost consciousness for more than 30 seconds, which is not a good sign, and no seizures. We couldn't tell furthermore regarding his head trauma and its severity until he regains consciousness, but expect that once he wakes up he couldn't tell us how he feels though we'll know if something isn't right on him, like if he lacks interest in the things he usually likes, easily gets tired, appeared to be dazed, changes in sleep and eating pattern, cranky and irritable, has lost his balance, and cries too much. But, that's to be expected from a head trauma and is quite normal. What we have to look out for is if there's any changes in his speech, always vomiting, difficulty in recognizing people and places, headache that always gets worse over time, changes in physical coordination and behaviour, and other symptoms like if he has any difficulty with mental function, seizures and visual disturbances. If any of those symptoms appears, then we have to worry though I advice you not to, because I'll help him recover. So, you don't have to worry too much about his head injury."

"What about the wound at his lower back?" asked Kakashi, making Iruka looked at his way since the latter did not know of it.

Tsunade closed her eyes briefly, pressing her thumb and index finger on the bridge of her nose, before another tired sigh escaped her lips. "That's the bigger problem here. Something pointy and rusted thing had pierced his back. He probably received it after he was dumped by the culprit. Unfortunately, it damaged his spinal column and won't be able to use his legs for weeks. If this happen to normal people, they would have lost their ability to walk, but we're talking about Naruto here, so I assume the Kyuubi was helping him recover gradually and lessen the pain he's feeling. You see, while operating, the doctor who was in charge of Naruto said that the hospital is out of stock of anaesthesia and only injected Naruto half of the dosage he was supposed to have since it was what left, but the brat didn't even flinch or anything. I thought at first that he's dead, but no. his heart rate was OK, if not normal, and his breathing was fine. So I guess it was the Kyuubi's doing."

Even though they all knew, with Tsunade there as the greatest medic-nin in Konoha, that Naruto will surely recover, they still could not help but worry, because not everything will go according to the plan or what they hoped for.

They could only wish that everything will be back to how it was before.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: I'm fully aware that I should've updated my other stories, but I run out of ideas and I hate to force myself to write unless I know what to do next. My plots are complete though. I just have to work on what the chapter will be all about.**

**Anyway, I was re-watching Cedie: Ang Munting Prinsipe (Cedie: The Little Prince) movie, a story based on the anime Little Lord Fauntleroy, then I got this idea for today's chapter.**

**And, to answer a question, the guy that Sasuke is following and the culprit to Naruto's injuries are two different people. I described the man who hurt Naruto as bulky while the other was a man in business suit.**

* * *

Sakura step out of her house into the night and closed the door. Turning around, she was startled by the sudden appearance of her mentor, who was standing in front of her with unreadable expression. Blinking her surprise away, she said, "Sir Kakashi, fancy meeting you here."

"Yeah. Under normal circumstances, it is." replied the white haired Elite, receiving a confuse look from his student.

"What're you talking about? It's something the matter, sir?" asked the pink haired teen, furrowing her brows.

"Yes apparently." said Kakashi. "It's about Naruto." he told her.

. . . .

By night time, Sasuke had reached the first town outside Konoha after hours of trailing his target, who was currently inside the pub that was opposite to where the teen was perched on a tree branch, hiding his presence subtlety.

So far, Sasuke had learned that the man he was investigating secretly was a businessman, which was a known fact throughout the Fire Country, making him frustrated of the early result of his pursuing. However, there was something that he could not place right. Whatever it was, he had to know as soon as possible.

There was laughter from below and Sasuke watched and listened intently to them as his target and his man servant came out of the pub.

"Futa." called the man in suit to his companion, who immediately turned his full attention to the former. "I want you to complete the preparations by tomorrow before noon. I want everything in check and flawless." he said the last word maliciously, making Sasuke frown suspiciously.

"The hell are they up to?" the raven haired teen muttered lowly to himself before flickering away and followed his target on their way to an inn.

. . . .

Sitting on a chair next to where little Naruto laid and sound asleep was Sakura, who was already informed by her mentor of what had happened to her teammate. Even though she was on duty in the hospital, she decided to visit her friend for a little while first before going and do her job just to show the boy was recuperating. Reaching her slim feminine right hand out, she gently pushed the golden stay locks off Naruto's face, mindful of the bandaged head injury.

Learning that her friend might be not able to walk again that would surely result of Naruto quitting his Nina career made Sakura to suppress the growl due to the rage she was feeling towards whomever had hurt her comrade. She did not want to disturb Naruto's sleep, so she opted to let out an audible sigh, withdraw her hand, and stand to leave.

The young lady made her way out, but not before wishing Naruto to get well soon, and closed the door behind her. And then, she walked away to fulfil her duty.

. . . .

There were instances where Kakashi's earlier report said that the nine-tailed beast had the ability to help its host to heal faster than an average human. The information helped alleviate Tsunade's worry, however there were times when Naruto fractured a bone that needed normal time span to heal. She wondered if the nine-tailed beast chose to let his host heal normally, or he could not simply heal it like any other wound.

The Hokage leaned back on her chair, taking a break of her paperwork when Shizune came in like she had run a marathon.

"Master Tsunade..." the Hokage's assistant slurred like a dunk and fell on the couch unceremoniously.

"Did you finish the task I ordered you?" inquired the slug princess.

"Yes..." came a muffled reply.

Shizune was apparently given a task by her superior to go to the library and read all early historical books and ninja techniques and its counter attack right after she barge in the office that afternoon.

"So, what did you find out?"

Sitting up straight, Shizune replied, "Nothing useful, Master Tsunade."

"I see." the Hokage pa paused. "Take a rest, Shizune. I'll handle everything here."

"Thank you."

"Hm."

. . . .

The next day, little Naruto stirred under his thin white blanket that the Konoha General Hospital issued as the light rays of the sun penetrated through the glass window, which curtains were drawn open to allow light and warm in. The boy, even though his eyelids felt heavy, opened his eyes slowly and blinked a couple of times to adjust. Once he got used, he just stared dazedly at the stark white ceiling of his room, feeling like he was floating. He then helped himself up, wincing as pain shot through his back, but he did not mind it much as he focused on sitting up. Suddenly, his world tilted and he swayed a little to the right. Luckily, he caught himself and leaned on the headboard.

A sigh escaped the blonde boy's lips.

_I just woke up, but I'm tired…_ he groaned. He wanted to go back to sleep, but the call of nature beckoned him to get out of the bed.

With another sigh, Naruto pushed the blanket aside and moved his legs, however, his legs refused to do his command. Not thinking clearly, he thought that it was nothing and that his legs were probably just tired as him, so he just grabbed his legs one by one and placed it at the edge of the bed. He then pushed himself up and fell miserably on the cold floor with his face planted on it.

"Ow…" came a muffled voice out.

Naruto stayed on the floor face first for five seconds before deeming it enough and pushed his person off the floor and sat. Just then, when he thought that he had enough strength to stand, a dizzy spell came and he could not help but throw up right on where he was.

. . . .

There was crying and coughing that came out of the room where the blonde boy was in when Sakura reached the door of Naruto's room. With pure instinct, the teen hurried inside and the boy was not on the bed but on the floor, crying and coughing. She did not fail to notice the yellowish liquid on the floor.

"Naruto, what happened? Does your head hurt?" she asked gently as she crouched down beside the boy, who nodded at her a second later. Furrowing her brows despite her smile, she said, "Let's get you back to bed, okay?" and picked little Naruto up.

When Sakura was about to settle the boy down, the latter thrashed in her arms and the former almost drop him if it was not because of her fast reflex being a ninja.

"Na-Naruto! Calm down!" she exclaimed.

"No! No! Let me down!" cried Naruto.

"Tch. Idiot." Grumbled Sakura under her breath, making sure Naruto did not hear her. "I'm going to put you down now, so please calm down."

Naruto stopped thrashing and Sakura placed him down on the bed, however, the boy cried again and pulled the pink haired teen to him and attempted to climb up on her.

"Eh? N-Naruto. What's wrong?"

Still crying, the boy said, "…bathroom…"

"Oh."

Moments later, the room was cleaned off Naruto's puke and the boy was now napping while Sakura sat on a mono block chair beside the bed tiredly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Hello, readers! Thanks for your reviews! You'll find out later the result of Sasuke's mission and if the culprit who hurt Naruto will be capture or not.**

**While describing how Naruto feels in this chapter, I felt like I wanted to throw up too. You see, I experienced, not once nor twice- not even three times, but multiple times, what it feels like having a massive headache followed by visual disturbances and...the throwing up part, which I really hate the most. There was one time when I could not handle the pain and I fainted across my father's lap (I even slumped on the sink while trying to get myself food since dad wanted me to eat something and then next thing I was leaning on the stair case. Man, if your figthing for your consciousness, you're barely aware of what you're doing and everything was black and white and you can't hear clearly.). Whenever I think about those times, I feel like I'm sick again.**

**So, If you find any mistakes in the chapter like misspelled words or misused of words, then you know why it is. And, I don't have the sense to re-read my work 'cause it still the same. It'll took me someone to point out my mishap to know sometimes. Heh, this is also the reason why I failed my math. I was mixing the wrong numbers and signs. *chuckles***

**Well, I'm trying to better my writing and reading skilss.**

**Long author's note, isn't it?**

**Nah, Go on and read.**

* * *

Futa, the businessman's man servant, was at the main gate of the town, lifting the last box in the wagon. He clapped his hands and turned around upon hearing oncoming footsteps and saw his boss. "Everything's here and no damages were done during the transportation, Mr. Torio." He informed the businessman.

Mr. Torio nodded his head in acknowledgement with a lopsided smirk; his cancer stick dangling between his fingers. "Good." He said and went to the carriage that was next to the wagon. His man servant followed him and waited for him to get settled inside before going in front and take the horse.

At a nearby shop was Sasuke in incognito as a boy with tan complexion and short auburn hair no older than ten, eating apple. He was silently and patiently observing the two, thinking what could be in those boxes that were carried by the wagon, which was now moving away along with the carriage. When he deemed it far enough, he walked leisurely from the shop and into a narrow alley where he dropped his transformation technique and set off after the carriage and wagon.

Sasuke followed them through the woods for hours until it was dusk and they decided to camp at the clearing they found. The raven haired teen, who was concealed behind the bushes and shadows from afar, ate his ration bar and drank his water from his water jug without tearing his eyes off the businessman and his servant, who eventually cleaned up the area after eating supper and prepared for the night.

Mr. Torio was confident of Futa, who will guard the wagon, enough that he slept soundly near the camp fire while the latter stayed behind the wagon, leaning on it as he slept. It was later that night, when the fire was already out that Futa woke up, feeling the call of nature, thus he stood up and went to the other side of the clearing and into the woods to take a leak.

Taking it as a chance to check the contents of the boxes that were in the wagon, Sasuke quickly stepped out of his hiding place and within the blink of an eye, he was already at the wagon's side. He lifted his right leg and stepped on in the wagon and his whole body followed suit as he ventured inside. There, he found fifteen to twenty boxes in which he chose the nearest one and opened it by cutting the packaging tape with his kunai and lifted the flaps.

Inside were prosthetic arms made of soft-paste porcelain as far as he could tell with his limited knowledge of materials used for making artificial limbs. He decided to take one and seal it in his storage scroll, and then subtlety resealed the box before going back to his hiding spot. Not a minute later, Futa came strolling back to his position and went back to sleep.

. . . .

The night was clear and the dark sky was littered by thousands of stars, twinkling down at the little blonde boy who was still wide awake in his hospital room, sitting on his bed. Said boy stared at it longingly.

Apparently, he found out that late morning when he woke up that he could not move his legs and could not feel anything from his hips down. At first he thought that his legs were still tired of something he did, which he could not quite tell though he guessed he was running the day before, but then when he lifted up his legs off to the side of the bed he just noticed that he felt numb down. Thinking it was just fluke, he pinched his thigh only to feel nothing. Not even a little pain. He repeated it again on his other thigh and received the same feeling of numbness and again on different areas of his legs until it finally clicked in him.

With wide eyes, he said "I can't move…the legs." in a hush tone.

That was when the doctor, who was in charge of his operation last night, came in to check on him and told him of what had happened to him and explained as to why he could not move his legs. The boy was silent at first, trying to grasp what was said to him, and before he knew it, he was already crying.

Naruto groaned as he felt another headache and leaned back on the headboard, reaching his right hand up to his forehead as he did so. He then closed his eyes, willing the pain would go away that unfortunately did not and only worsened. The pain felt like a part of his brain, either which side he could not tell, was being squashed with such pressure. And when he reopened his eyes, there was a small hazy line at the upper right of his vision, which grew bigger with each second until it formed a ring around his vision, making his stomach churn up.

He closed his eyes again, hoping that the hazy ring that disturbed his vision would disappear, but it did not. He can still see it. Trying another method, he opened his right eye and then closed it again to open the other one. It was still the same. The hazy ring did not disappear and his headache intensified, eliciting a groan from him.

The boy squirmed under his blanket and laid down to sleep it away, which lessened his discomfort a little and he sighed. After quite some time when he thought he was fine despite the hazy ring still present, he decided to sit back since he could not sleep yet. And when he did, the feeling of throwing up came back full force and he could not held himself back anymore; he puked and cried.

. . . .

Sakura was doing her rounds in the hospital and was on her way to Naruto's room to give him his medicine when she the crying upon arriving at the latter's room just outside the door, which she opened and, once again, found Naruto crying over his mess for the second time.

Sighing, the pink haired teen sauntered inside, placed the tray with medicine and a glass of water on atop the nightstand, and went to clean up her still crying teammate.

It was not long before Sakura was finished changing Naruto into a new set of clothes and the bed sheets, too. She carefully tucked the boy back in the bed and gave him his medicine and glass of water that he took obediently, believing that it would heal him real fast since it was what Sakura told him.

After making sure that the boy was asleep, Sakura took the tray and walked out of the room, closing the door silently.

_It'll take awhile before Naruto's damage nerve cells heal completely and once it did, he'll have to take rehabilitation to be able to gain his strength and sense of balance. _Sakura thought as she made her way down the hallway and disappeared as she turned right.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: There are many causes of headache, but the headache because of migraine or concussion is something else. Whenever I felt the headache and thought I had another visual disturbance again no matter how small, I got scared and immediately laid down to sleep it away. I first experienced this case six years ago (which was the worst I think since it was during examinations and I forced myself to go to school), and now it still happening but not quite often like it used to before. It only happened when I'm sleep deprived sometimes. And, yeah. Throwing up sucks, but you feel better afterwards.**

**Heh, I thought it's only me who feels sick whenever I thought about Naruto's sick part.**

**Okie Dokie. Enough talk about that. Let's move on, shall we?**

* * *

"Is this his house?" asked Kakashi to a woman next to him.

"Yes. I'm sure of it, Mr. Hatake." Replied the woman with a firm nod.

"Thank you. You can go now. I can handle it from here." The Elite told the woman, but the latter only frowned at the door they were standing in front and did not budge. Turning to her, Kakashi hummed questioningly at her.

The woman noticed his action and said, "I…I wanted to be here." She paused. "I did not treat Naruto well when he was a child before. When he grew up, I just kind of forgot about it 'cause I was preoccupied of him being the hero of Konoha who saved the village from Pein and now…he contributed so much in winning the recent war. But then, when I saw him for the first time after learning what had happened to him, the memories of the past haunted me. I feel bad…for treating him that way. Actually…I used to see him as the fox itself reborn as a human boy. I just realized the mistake I'd done. He…he's just a boy like anyone else who wanted to be love since he has no one to do it for him."

"…You're wrong."

"Eh?" the woman turned to Kakashi abruptly. "I'm wrong…? What do you mean?"

Looking at the woman sideways, the Elite said, "Naruto had the Third Hokage. It wasn't known to many, but the Third was the one who raised Naruto. He raised Naruto himself like he had promised to the Fourth's wife."

"…Fourth's…wife…?" her eyes widened as she repeated the words.

"Yes. Naruto's the son of the Fourth and the heir to his mother's clan." Noticing that the woman won't move any moment, he decided to snap his fingers in front of her, waking her, and knocked on the door. There was a muffled 'coming!' from the other side of the door, so they waited outside for someone to open it.

The door opened, revealing the man in brown T-shirt and black pants with bulky appearance.

"Yes?" asked the man.

"Is it him?" Kakashi asked the woman beside him without tearing his eyes off the man.

"Yes. But, Mr. Hatake, I'm not sure if he did it. Maybe he just happened to pass that same alley where you found Naruto."

At the mention of the boy's name, the man visibly flinched and being a ninja, Kakashi did not fail to notice it. And, just by that simple reaction to the name he knew that it really was the man whom he was fishing around for.

The day after the incident, the Hokage ordered Kakashi to search for the man responsible for Naruto's injuries. Kakashi then went back to where he and Iruka found the boy and asked a few residents if they had seen someone came out of the alley. Everyone answered 'no' and reasoned that there were way too many people going in and out to tell until he came to a bakeshop and asked the woman.

"_Oh yeah. I remember someone hurrying out of that alley where I had last seen Naruto. He's Kidou. Why? Is there a problem, sir?" _asked the woman to Kakashi, who told her that he was looking for the man who had hurt Naruto pretty bad and left said boy in the trash bin. So, they went to the man's house, but he was not there so they decided to come back the next morning, in which they did.

"No. I'm sure it's him, Ms. Yuniko." Replied Kakashi in a monotone; his eyes still on the man.

The man, Kidou, furrowed his brows and snarled, "The hell are you talking 'bout?"

Unfazed, the white haired ninja retorted, "Please, Mr. Kidou. Don't play innocent. It's you, isn't it?"

"Me?" Kidou raised his brow mockingly. "Will you tell me what's going on, Mr. Ninja? It's like you're accusing me of some crime I didn't do!" he laughed harshly.

"Of course, I _am_ accusing you of hurting my student when he's at his weakest and left him bleed to death."

Kiduo was lost for words. He did not know what to say, thus he was deemed speechless.

Kakashi chuckled out of the blue to relieve Kiduo of the tension and nervousness he was feeling. "Now, now." he said. "Of course you'll be cleaned of the accusation after the investigation. That is-"his demeanour changed from light to dark. "-if you really are innocent. Hm? Now, we don't want to waste our time, do we? 'Cause I'm a patient man, but I guess you aren't. Come along now." he ranted whilst dragging Kidou and followed by Yuniko, who wanted to see the end of the investigation and visit Naruto in the hospital afterwards.

. . . .

"Orphanage?" Sasuke, who was perched on a tree branch like he always do, cocked his head.

It was mid afternoon by the time the carriage and the wagon Sasuke was trailing after reached the orphanage that stood at the middle of a large meadow. He watched as Futa came down from his seat and carried the boxes with the help of a doctor, who came out of the building, inside. Then, Mr. Torio followed them in whilst greeting the children that were playing outside.

Sasuke thought there was something amiss in the situation. He felt like there was something he was missing. He watched those children intently and he noticed that most of them, if not all, had artificial body parts and the others that were complete only sat on the bench, staring dazedly, and only moved if someone asked them or dragged them to play.

"Transform." He whispered the technique and became the boy he had used as a disguised before. He then dropped on the ground and walked toward the building.

A woman in her mid twenties with platinum blonde hair tied in a low ponytail and wore sleeveless tortoise dress made her presence known to the children. She called everyone in for snacks and was about to turn in when she caught sight of a boy at the corner of her eyes. Approaching said boy, she asked, "Hello there, little one. Are you lost?"

"…I'm looking for my mom. Some bad guys took her away." Replied the boy.

"Oh, that's sad. Would you like to spend the night here?" she symphatized.

The boy shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I've gotta find mom before it gets dark."

"But, it's dangerous out here when it gets dark. There are some wild animals in the forest. Now, you don't want them to eat you, do you?" she asked as she crouched to the boy's level.

Scrunching up his face at the thought of being eaten alive, the boy finally opted to stay than not. Besides, he had to gather more information.

"Alright! Come on in then. I'll introduce you to Mr. Torio. I'm sure he'll help you find your mom. I'm Milly by the way. And you are…?" she inquired as they both went inside the orphanage.

"Kaoruko. Tsunaga Kaoruko."

. . . .

Milly knocked on the door politely. "Mr. Torio, we have a guest." She informed the man inside the drawing room.

"Ah! Come in!"

Opening the door, the woman gently ushered the boy with her inside and stood in front of the man, Mr. Torio, who was sitting ehind his desk.

"I found him wandering outside, sir. He got lost, I think, of searching his mother." Milly told the man.

"I see." Mr. Torio leaned forward, resting his chin on his laced fingers as he prop his elbows on the desk. "Well, I can help you with your problem, boy. Tell me, how did your mother go missing, hm?"

"She isn't missing. Some bad guys took her last night while we were travelling."

"Really. What did those bad guys look like?"

"Dunno." The boy shrugged. "I was asleep when it happened. I just woke up all alone the next morning."

"Don't you think your mother abandoned you?" Milly voiced out her thoughts.

The boy snapped at her and exclaimed, "No! Mom won't leave me alone! She promised me!"

"There, there." Mr. Torio placated. "What's your name, boy?"

Looking back at the man, the boy replied, "I'm Kaoruko." With a stern look that seemed to be too cute to be intimidating.

"Alright, Kaoruko. Why don't you go and enjoy your time here for now while I'll do the search for your mommy? I'm sure mommy won't like it if she learned that you're wandering alone out in the forest."

"I'm not wandering. I'm looking for her." Kaoruko pouted whilst folding his arms against his chest.

"Ah, right. You're looking for mommy. So, will you stay here for a while? I swear I'll find your mommy and return her to you."

"Really?" Kaoruko lit up, feigning hope and innocence.

Mr. Torio nodded with his eyes closed in contentment. "Really, my dear Kaoruko." Opening his eyes as he looked at the boy, he said, "Now, Milly. Get our dear boy out of here and give him sweet treats for snack time."

"As you wish, sir." Replied Milly, bowing politely. And with that, she brought Kaoruko out of the room and into the dining area where children around five to twelve years old were eating their fair share of sweets.

_Good work, Sasuke._ The raven haired teen in disguised praised his self. _Inside job's accomplished._ He mentally smirked.


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: I was pretty excited in writing the first part, but when it came to the second the the last one, I had a little hard time thinking of what to write. I have ideas, but those are best for the next chapters. Anyway, I made it through and finished the chapter.**

**Hmm. I'm having noise hallucination at the moment. The song 'Banana' of the minions from Despicable Me won't disappear. Heh, I've been singing it the whole morning and this afternoon, when I stopped, my older brother asked me to sing it again whilst smirking lopsidedly, so I did not sing for him again, thinking he'll record it for everyone to see. (It embarrasses me! XD) *Sighs* I was listening to the song while making logo my cousin had requested me and only did I stop when I got another idea for the next chapter and uploaded this chapter. Thanks to minions! LOL  
**

**So...I thank thee for your reviews and for putting up with my 'Notes' (to those who bother reading my notes. *chuckles*)**

**When Sasuke leanred of what hap happened to poor Naruto, he will...**

**...**

**We'll, let's continue reading to find out, okay? I'm not going to spoil this story.**

* * *

Small feet padded softly on the wooden floor that creaked creepily with each step, but the boy did not show any signs of being creep out or the likes as he kept on walking confidently in the dark, intending to find where the boxes filled with prosthetic limbs were being hidden.

Sasuke, or Kaoruko, reached the part of the hallway were the path was divided into two. He had to give it to the building that was pretty huge. Had he been just an ordinary seven-year old child, he was sure he will get himself lost inside the orphanage if he was not familiar of the place. Leaning on the wall at the left side, the auburn haired boy took a stealthy look to check the left hallway if it was clear when, unbeknownst to him, a slim and feminine hand reached out and touched his right shoulder. He suddenly jumped out of his spot and took a defensive stance in case his opponent attacked him. What he did not anticipated was to see the woman, Milly.

With wide eyes, Kaoruko let out an almost inaudible gasp subconsciously and spoke out his thought, "How did you…"

Milly just chuckled behind her hand at the shocked face Kaoruko sported and inquired where he was going at the middle of the night.

Regaining his composure, the boy replied, "I can't seem to find my way back."

"Oh. Did you, perhaps, gone to the kitchen?"

He nodded. "It's big in here."

The woman chuckled again, though lightly. "I know right. That's why I'm always roaming here around this time to check if there is at least one lost soul, so I can help them back to their room. Now, let's get you in your room. It's already quarter to eleven." She said as she pulled the boy with her back to the latter's room.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was thinking how in the world did the woman managed to sneak on him without his knowledge

. . . .

A pair of feet in shiny, black leather shoes thudded on the linoleum floor softly as the person paced through the hallway, greeting the nurses and patients that were passing by, and stopped right in front of a certain door where behind it was Naruto sitting on bed and staring dazedly outside through the only window in his room. The person knocked on the door before he opened it and sauntered inside. "Hello, Naruto. I see you're up early." He greeted cheerfully at the boy who had turned to face him upon hearing him spoke.

Naruto eyed the man before him. He remembered the man that asked him so many trivial questions the day he woke up for the second time of the day after the incident. "Hi." He replied a second later to the man in lab coat, who was in his early thirties with short dark gray hair and goatee. He sat at Naruto's left side of bed.

"How are feeling, Naruto?" asked the doctor.

"…Fine. But, my head still hurts, Doctor Sasaki."

The doctor, now dubbed as Dr. Sasaki, nodded at the boy's response. "Well, isn't okay if I ask you some things?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his doctor, thinking that the latter was being annoying. And so, he said, "But, you already asked me last time."

"I know. And, you barely knew the faces I showed you. This time, I wanted to ask what you do remember."

Sighing, the boy thought it would be best for him to just answer so the man would leave him alone. "…Gramps. I remember him."

"Really? Where is he, now?"

"…He left."

"Where?"

"Heck if I know!" Naruto blurted out, shocking Dr. Sasaki who then blinked it away and moved on to next question.

"Okay. Now, where do you live?"

This time, Naruto had to suppress his emotions back to answer since lately; he had been cranky and irritated for no reason. "…I live alone."

Noticing the boy's frown, Dr. Sasaki decided to stop, or else the boy would explode and might get himself hurt. So, he told the boy to rest and he will come back later to check on him. He then made his way toward the door and was about to leave when Naruto called him back and asked when he will be able to walk again. Dr. Sasaki was an expressive person and even the patient was still a tad bit disoriented, the latter knew something was bad despite the former assuring him that everything will be alright.

. . . .

"His headache, while not severe, is still there. It's dull, but still there. And, he's not answering some questions correctly. So far, that's the only evaluation that has been conducted on him since he has the tendency to get irritated. We have yet to test his balance and coordination though I can tell he has difficulty on handling a spoon and glass." Sakura informed her mentor, Kakashi.

The pink haired teen and the white haired Elite were currently at the ramen shop, Ichiraku's Ramen, eating lunch together.

Putting the chopsticks together and on top of the bowl, Kakashi said his thanks for the meal and asked, "Do you think he'll be able to walk again soon?"

Sakura brought the bowl in her mouth and took a sip from it before placing it back down on the counter table. She looked at Kakashi, saying, "The damage that was done on his spinal cord was severe, and for an average child it's impossible. But, we're talking about Naruto here, so I'm sure he'll be back to normal again."

"And his healing progress…?"

"He's…" Sakura trailed off as she thought of the question. As she recalled, though Naruto's healing capabilities as a child was exceptional, it was still too slow for the boy. So, she said, "He's not healing as fast as he used to be."

"Hm." Kakashi closed his eyes briefly, pondering."

"Do you think it's because his body is small and the kyuubi has to slow down the process so as not to burn his chakra coils?" the young lady guessed.

"Even if you say so, Naruto has been a jinchuuriki his whole life. Despite being small, it's still his body that has been used to that powerful chakra. So, I can only assume that the kyuubi is slowing the process of healing his host so that he won't trigger Naruto's memory, which will probably confuse him."

_He's right._ Thought Sakura. _If Naruto's past and present memories clash, it will confuse him, or worse… he'll break. After all, he has the mind of a four-year old child, and to remember what he had been through these years will do him bad._


	9. Chapter 9

**Note: This is getting creepy, don't you think? The orphanage part, I mean.**

**Nah, I think it's my imagination.**

**...**

**Or not.**

* * *

Outside the orphanage building sat Kaoruko, wearing navy blue shorts and white V-neck round shirt that his roommate had lent him, on a bench and watched the children run around, chasing each other. He glanced at his right and found the others sat silently on the grassy ground and had a daze look in their eyes like they did not see nor had the energy to bother anyone. Because of that, it caused Sasuke to feel unease and more questions to grow as to why be that. He then decided to go inside and see if he can do anything to suffice the suspicion that was growing inside of him. _I can't just sit around idly and do nothing. I'm on a mission and I have to complete this._ Thought Sasuke as he went farther inside, noticing that no was around.

Muffled laughter sounded from the library that Sasuke had happened to pass by. Then, he heared Mr. Torio said, "Prepare for the next batch. And that new kid, I like him." the raven haired teen in disguised widened his eyes as he heard that the businessman, Mr. Torio, had an interest on him, which did not bode well. Narrowing his eyes at the door, he told himself that he had to be more careful around the staffs in the orphanage.

_Ah. That's right._ Sasuke realized something and resumed on walking around. _I haven't seen that doctor since yesterday. I never saw him went out. Where could he be this time?_ He pondered. Apparently, Sasuke was deep in thought, but he knew that even if he was he can still feel his surroundings, however, bumping into Milly once again was something he was not looking forward to.

"Oh, Kaoruko. Sorry, didn't notice you there." said Milly with a mild chuckle, pulling Kaoruko back on his feet. The woman was carrying a pile of clothes when she and the boy ran into each other. "Where are you going, little one? Everyone's outside playing."

_I didn't feel her presence again. What is she?_ Thought a frustrated Sasuke, but it could not be seen outside. "Just wandering around. I'm not up to playing."

"I see. But, Kaoruko this isn't the rightful place for a child like you. You are supposed to be with other children, playing and getting to know each other." Still smiling, Milly told the boy as she led him back out.

Glancing over his shoulder, Sasuke took note of the out of place door at the end of the hallway.

. . . .

"How was it, Kakashi?" asked Yamato before slurping some noodles. At his left was Kakashi, who just received his own serve of ramen.

Heaving a sigh, the white haired ninja said, "Hm. He's stubborn and I give him that."

Yamato had just returned from his C-rank mission when he heard of the investigation regarding the attack to Naruto upon exiting the Hokage office. He had asked a random fellow ninja about it and was informed that Kakashi was one of the investigators. Curious of the case, he decided to ask Kakashi about it, but not before visiting the blonde boy, which led to him having lunch at Ichiraku's Ramen with the silver haired man.

"Tell me about it." Said the wood release user and former ANBU, Yamato.

"Well, he was first asked a few questions like; where was he at that time, what he was doing, and whatnots. Of course at first his reasoning was pretty plausible, but his answers were not consistent when we repeated the same questions over and over again. He kept denying the crime he did no matter what and insisted that we have no proof that he did what we thought he did. So, I went and gather the results of the test that would point him as the culprit. I had Naruto's shirt examined. And Kidou's finger prints on it are the proof that he was the culprit. And to back it up, we had Ino prod him. So, after some curses and yelling Kidou let out, it's really him. Kidou was the one who attack Naruto." Kakashi explained without looking at his companion as he was eating his ramen.

"Why did he do it, though?" asked Yamato after he ate a slice of pork.

"Hm? Who knows? But, he was drunk at the time, so I guess that was it." Kakashi shrugged.

"Still…that's not a reason to hurt a defenceless kid. Do you think Naruto provoke him?" pondered Yamato.

"I know Naruto used to be a prankster, but he had long since grown out of that habit ever since he became a ninja. And, as I have observed, he's not acting like he used to be. He's meek and shy, and not the loud and obnoxious kid. Well…until now, 'cause Sakura said he's being loud lately, but I blame it on his head injury."

. . . .

Naruto, who sat on his hospital bed, frowned at the building blocks made of wood that scattered before him. He was supposed to build a house of it, but for some unfathomable reason- in his case- he could not do it right. It always ended up him dropping the block or accidentally misplacing it and his building will collapse.

The building blocks were given by Yamato, who he did not recognize, earlier. He was just lying on his back, staring at the ceiling as he counted how many tiles were on it, when the former ANBU came in. The ninja introduced himself first as Yamato and that they were friends before they chatted. Later on, the topic went to where Naruto had told the man that he was bored and the latter made up his mind to make building blocks out of nothing, surprising the boy.

He was just glad to have something else to do, but not being able to do it right irritated Naruto.

"What's wrong with my hands?" he grumbled in exasperation. With a sigh, Naruto picked the blocks up and set it aside before laying down and closed his eyes to nap.

. . . .

"I'm sorry kiddo, but I haven't found your mom yet." Mr. Torio said in sympathy.

The businessman was sitting ehind his desk in the library, reading a book that afternoon, when he thought of Kaoruko's mother. So, he had Milly call the boy in and told him just that.

_Not that I still have a mother, but…whatever._ Thought Sasuke and said, "It's alright. I can wait until you find her. You'll keep on looking for her, right?" with huge eyes.

Mr. Torio chuckled. "Of course! Of course, I will. Now, go on and play with your friends. I have to work on that."

Kaoruko nodded and let Milly lead him out of the room and out to the meadow, where he chose to sit on a bench to watch the children dragged Milly with them to play.

_I can feel the children's presence; their chakras, even though I'm not near them, even the animals out there in the forest. But, why can't I feel Milly's? I was right beside her the whole time in the library, but why? She's like aghost…_ Sasuke furrowed his brows as he thought of the things that he had learned. _And, there's _that_ room…what's in there…?_


	10. Chapter 10

It was already five days since the incident and Naruto was woken up by the sudden commotion outside of his room. Still half awake, he prop himself up on his left elbow and rubbed the sleep away of his eyes as he looked at the door groggily. The blonde boy noted that it was 27 minutes past nine when he checked the wall clock, yet he did not want to get up. He wanted to sleep more, but the noise outside his room made it hard for him to fall back asleep and dream.

Outside Naruto's hospital room were Iruka, Yamato, and Sai, subduing some villagers that had made their way in pass the entrance. Apparently, it was weekend and Iruka decided to spend his free time entertaining Naruto who he knew must be bored. The Commoner teacher run into Sai along the way and the latter tagged along. When they reached the hospital, they were greeted by a mass of civilians crowding outside. They had to squeeze themselves in before they made it to the hallway where a pack of people was being pushed away by Yamato.

"Where here for the boy!" someone exclaimed within the crowd.

"I heard what had happened, so I'm here to give him flowers." The woman in the front line said, waving said flowers.

"Damn it! We just wanna see the boy!" a man complained at the back.

"I'm sorry, but the kid is not up to for visitors." Said Yamato, sweating.

Naruto in the other hand, after staring at his door, noticed a tray of breakfast on the bed side table. A slice of apple, a glass of milk and water, and a bowl of chicken stew were prepared. He was hungry, but had no appetite to eat until he felt pain in his stomach and decided to just eat at least a little. Grabbing the tray, the boy settled it on his lap, took the spoon and scooped the stew, and brought it up for his mouth to take on, but he was only halfway through when the door busted open, startling him.

Because of the sudden interruption, the boy spilled his warm stew on the hospital blanket. He looked down and frowned at it before averting his eyes to scan the group of people that had stumbled in his space. Naruto had recognized Iruka immediately, and then Yamato, but not Sai, who was not at the time when Dr. Sasaki had introduced some people to him. And then, there were people, the villagers that he did not know.

Everything had quieted down soon after the crowd had burst in the patient's room, and said patient could only stare at them in shock, which soon morphed into a neutral expression, and Naruto stared at them dazedly, lost in his mind.

One second he was looking at the crowd, and then the next little Naruto found himself in a familiar place, a dark alley way, hiding from the grotesque creatures in human form. He stood shakily from his ball form and hesitantly peeked outside his hiding spot, which almost had his heart stop beating the moment he saw those people.

People looked at him in disdain, then they smiled wickedly at him, and he heard word that he could not comprehend, but he knew it from the heart what they were saying. Not long after that, the people malformed, turning into black shadows that eventually combined and made the action that looked like the shadows were about to devour him. At that very moment, Naruto snapped and screamed to the top of his lungs.

The civilians cringed and were surprised at Naruto's reaction. They were at the lost, not able to process what had just happened that made the boy screamed like he was being chased as he buried himself under the blanket and shivered. While the civilians were at the state of shock, the ninjas, Yamato, Iruka, and Sai took the moment to usher the crowd out and closed the door.

Iruka then went to Naruto's side to calm the boy, but no matter what he did, Naruto would not stop shivering. While the academy teacher was tending to Naruto's need, Sai picked up the tray that once had Naruto's breakfast, which was now useless, and placed the utensils on top of the bed side tale before going out and cleaning the mess.

Picking up a nearby chair, Yamato sat on it and watched as Iruka gently cuddled the scared blonde boy on his lap, whispering soothing words whilst rubbing the boy's lap.

"It's okay, Naruto. No one's going to hurt you." Iruka told the boy, who was clutching at his head with wide teary eyes staring at a distance.

. . . .

"Master Tsunade?" inquired Shizune, who had Ton-ton in her amrs, when the Hokage sighed tiredly and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Papers that Tsunade's assistant and apprentice had carried in piled up so high like a tower. There were so many of them on both floor around the table and on the table that hid the Hokage as it surrounded her. But, in spite of that, she paid it no mind as she studied the scroll she found about ancient times. It was written during the very first era of shinobi where it was mentioned that someone had created a technique that had the same effect as of what had happened to Naruto. Because, the scroll was so old, there were scriptures that were hard to decipher as it was fading with old time, yet, Tsunade did not want to make it as an excuse to not be able to learn how to counter the technique that was used against Naruto.

"I need a bottle of sake, Shizune." Tsunade informed the black haired woman.

Shizune would rather not give her a bottle of sake and make her do her job, but she knew not to disobey since Tsunade was working so hard just to find a way to return Naruto back to normal. And, the Hokage was willing to abandon her work until she found a way.

"I'll e right back, Master Tsunade." Shizune bowed and walked out of the office to fetch her Hokage a bottle of sake downtown.

. . . .

"Hey!" a seven-year old boy in white round neck shirt and blue shorts with short black hair greeted Kaoruko, who was sitting on the bench like usual.

Looking up, Kaoruko nodded at the boy, and then went back on observing the mystery, which was Milly.

"Mind if I sit here?" asked the black haired boy.

"I don't." said Kaoruko.

"Name's Ao. What's yours?" the boy, now named as Ao, tilted his head as he inquired.

"Kaoruko." He replied without tearing his eyes off the woman, who was busy with the children playing.

Frowning at the lack of Kaoruko's enthusiasm, Ao, undeterred, pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and showed it in front of Kaoruko's face. The auburn haired boy blinked at it and looked at the other boy at his right. "I found this at the backyard. It's Mr. Torio's; he forgot it.

An idea made its way in Kaoruko's mind and asked his companion if he could borrow for a moment. With a nod, Ao gave it to Kaoruko, who immediately took it and put it on before activating his sharingan.

Sasuke, in the guise of Kaoruko, scanned the area. He could see the chakra flow of the children, but when his eyes landed on Milly, he was shocked to see nothing but a shell of human body.

Ao furrowed his brows when Kaoruko flinched, so he asked if something was wrong. Kaoruko only shook his head, gave the sunglasses back to Ao, and stood up, shoving his fists inside his pockets as he went back inside. The black haired boy could only follow him with his eyes and shrugged before putting the sunglasses on and giggled to himself, finding it amusing to see things in a darker color.


	11. Chapter 11

**Note: I thought I won't be able to update today 'cause I'm not feeling well. Got a pretty bad headache last night and the next morning I almost collapsed on the bathroom floor had I not grabbed the knob. Geez...My vision completely blacked out for a moment there. I didn't even ate breakfast and lunch except three slices of sliced bread and a piece of choco cake my father had bought this afternoon.**

**I'm sure if my mom was here she would've knock some sense on me for worrying her again.**

**Anyway, I'm better now than before after sleeping most of the morning and afternoon. *smiles***

**I should've updated this chapter the other day, but I'm unable to because of my laziness.**

**And now, I have to go and wash the dishes.**

**Enjoy the chapter, readers!**

* * *

Sasuke, still in incognito, sat on a wooden chair in a small table that was just under the window in the room he was sharing with other children. He was drawing people in stick figure as though they were buying at a marketplace on a paper he had asked from Futa who he found snatching food from the fridge. He had asked for a couple of papers, saying he was going to draw, but in fact was writing a message. Sasuke had made sure that all the papers he had received from Futa were filled with random drawings and had used the only paper he found in the drawer at the table he was currently in to write to the Hokage in case the orphanage staff were monitoring his movements. Apart from that, he had also cast a simple illusion technique around him, so that if someone came in he would not be found out.

Deeming it enough, Sasuke dropped the red crayon and hopped off the chair, leaving his childish drawings prone on the table. He had already sent his message along with the prosthetic he found in the boxes during the camp night at the clearing before via his summon.

It was written in his report that Mr. Torio runs an orphanage. Suspicious matters like the prosthetic limbs, the doctor that he had not seen ever since he arrived at the orphanage, and the room that was restricted, which he found when he _accidentally_ ran on Milly, who was suspicious enough as she was. There were also the handicapped children using those prosthetic limbs, and those physical complete children that seemed so distant and silent.

And there was him…

Could I have slipped? Did I make myself a way? He asked himself. Recalling the past events, he learned that he concealed his self perfectly save the moments when Milly found him wondering at the middle of the night. But, he had that already covered.

_I have to make this fast. I can't stay here any longer. Just two more days and I'll be out of this place and back to Naruto._ Sasuke concluded as he, once again, went outside when he sensed that Mr. Torio was out. And now that he thought of Naruto, the nagging feeling he thought had disappeared returned. He kept telling himself that the blonde boy was fine and that there was nothing to worry about, because Kakashi was looking after him. But then again, the feeling would not go away. It only intensified more.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he told himself to concentrate on the task at hand, and before he could muse anymore, his thought were cut off when he noticed that the children were gone. Those physically fit children were gone.

_No. they're not gone._ He thought as he sat on the bench again.

Sasuke watched as the boy from before, Ao, returned the sunglasses to Mr. Torio who thanked him with a smile. The Uchiha was not a sensor type ninja, so he could not tell where the missing children are. Walking back inside might alert Milly who he confirmed was no ordinary woman or doll and that was sure was keeping an eye on him. So, he resorted to one option.

Sitting on the grassy meadow, Milly laughed at whatever the little girl was telling the group and calmed herself when she caught a glimpse of Kaoruko from the corner of her eye. She turned to her right and asked, "What is it, Kaoruko?"

"I'm thirsty. Can you make me something to drink?"

The woman excused herself from the group and accompanied Kaoruko to the kitchen where she started making orange juice. The boy watched her back as she worked. Then, said boy remembered something.

"Hey, Milly." He called, making the woman looked over her shoulder down to him and hummed in inquiry. "Did they find my mother?" asked Kaoruko, feigning sadness and hope.

Milly stopped stirring.

There was a two-second silence before Milly told him that they did not find his mother yet, which brought more sadness to the boy.

Sasuke's deception must have worked since Milly showed her concern to the boy and tried comforting her.

"Here." Milly said as she handed Kaoruko a glass of orange juice and smiled when the latter took."Let's go and give these to others." She gestured to a tray with glasses of juice she was holding.

While watching her work with the juice and exchanging words with her, Sasuke had subtlety summoned a small snake and had sent it to search for the missing children and report back immediately. He also did not fail to notice that the woman put something in his glass of juice.

_I'm a ninja, and no one below me can deceive me. But…_ Sasuke looked down at the innocent-looking juice his grasp as he followed Milly out. _What am I going to do with this? I can't drink this…and I can't just throw this away…_ he sighed. _Never did I thought of learning how to make a shadow clone without anyone seeing you making hand seals and making the clone appear out of sight._

After debating what to do with his juice mentally, Sasuke gulped it in four. He would have poured it somewhere had Milly not watching him with a comforting yet suspicious smile of hers. When nothing happened after an hour or so, he thought that maybe, whatever Milly had put in his juice, was not affecting him as it supposed to be after noticing Milly's slight frown that no one but him had noticed.

. . . .

Naruto set his late lunch aside; his ramen. He was not even halfway through it, which worried Kakashi who was sitting at the edge of Naruto's bed.

"Don't you like it?" asked the man, earning a shake of head from the boy who preferred to choose the time to nap. Sighing, Kakashi took the boy's lunch and left. He knew that it was only part of the symptoms the Hokage had told them, but he just cannot help it.

In the other hand, some villagers wanted to visit the blonde boy, but the security was so tight. So they chose to wait for Naruto to be release and pray for his fast recovery. And, after that, they were planning on treating the boy in their own good way to express their gratitude of saving the humanity.

While these things were going on in the townsfolk, Naruto was having a dream.

In his dream were fragments of his past memories. The transitions from when he graduated from academy to the recent events in his life was too fast that it was hard to follow, but deep inside he the feelings well like it was only yesterday.

_"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone."_

_"Just shut up for once! What the hell do you know about it?! It's not like you ever had a family in the first place! You were on your own right from the beginning, what makes you think you know anything about it?! Huh?! I'm suffering now because I had those ties, how on earth could you possibly understand, what it feels like to lose all that?!"_

_"If you think I'm just a foolish kid ruled by his emotions, that's fine. Following Itachi's path would be childish, the whispering of fools who don't know hatred. If anyone else tries to ridicule the way I live, I'll slaughter everyone they ever cared about. And then maybe they'll understand what it's like to taste...a little of my hatred."_

Even though the scenes were not clear, those phrases Sasuke had once told him before were full of hatred. It was like poison to a one's heart.

_"Well, now you know. So, let's go out? I promise no one will hurt you, and in any case, I'll protect you."_

_"You're my friend and you're like my brother to me. We're family, Naruto. Remember that. And I promise I'll never leave again."_

Sasuke had also told him those words, which were full of pure sincerity that only confused Naruto the more he thought about it. Sasuke had sworn to never leave him _again_, but he never came to visit Naruto even once and nobody told the poor boy of the teen's whereabouts.

Opening his eyes slowly, Naruto revealed the unshed tears and whispered Sasuke's name longingly. He closed his eyes again, making a tear cascaded down his face and dropped on the pillow.

"Why did you leave me?" were the hurt filled words Naruto let out as he once again fell asleep with a sad heart.


	12. Chapter 12

**Note: We're almost half way through with this story. Thanks for the non-stop support, guys!**

**The memories that Naruto remembered were just a side effect of his head trauma though it will be a sign for something good and bad.**

* * *

Tsunade had received Sasuke's report message and the scroll that had the artificial arm in it that early in the afternoon. She immediately wrote her response afterwards, telling Sasuke of a well done job and informing him that the information was enough for now. She knew the teen would delve deeper until he found answers to his questions if he had but she had this foreboding feeling that she did not like because of the bet she had won against one of her subordinates earlier before she had received Sasuke's report. So, she used Naruto's condition to make the Uchiha return as soon as possible despite knowing that including Naruto's current state was considered as bribing. Even so, she was the Hokage, and Sasuke will follow her orders without anything to push him. Apparently, it was already too late to rewrite the message she had sent. She knew that telling Sasuke of Naruto will distract the Uchiha.

Sasuke was a ninja, and a ninja must have a great control over his emotions. However, Sasuke was also an Uchiha, which means emotions were the most delicate factor in their prowess.

Love was what driving an Uchiha to protect, but that love was too much. And once broken, it will turn to grief, bringing their Sharingan forth. The grief, if not mended, would turn to hatred that drove an Uchiha into madness.

Sasuke had been through it all, and Tsunade worried that she made a mistake of informing the teen about Naruto, who was the reason why Sasuke returned and chose to live to protect his precious one. Now, the Hokage can only hope and pray that everything will turn out fine.

Tsunade would have been the one to personally examine the prosthetic arm, but she was so succumbed in reading the scroll she had found. She was hopeful that she would find the answer to counter the technique Kaguya had used to Naruto to counter it, but found such no luck so far.

Slumping back on her seat, the Hokage pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes and sighed. She was getting frustrated as she went on reading, so she halted to rest a little when someone knocked on her office's door. Sighing once again, she said, "Enter."

Ton-ton was the one that walked in with a frown, which was peculiar for a pig. And then, Shizune followed in.

The black haired woman stood in front of the Hokage's desk and gave her findings about the artificial limb. Tsunade took it and read the contents inside the folder. As the village's leader read on, her eyes gradually widen in mixture of horror and disbelief.

"I know Orochimaru did the worst possible things to human being, but this...! This is unforgivable!" exclaimed Tsunade, shaking her head, mortified at what she had learned. Averting her eyes to her assistant and apprentice, she ordered, "Shizune! Call team Asuma. We're going to raid the orphanage and rescue those children!"

"Understood!"

. . . .

It was late in the afternoon when Sasuke found the time to check the restricted room. According to his snake summon, the missing children were in there and a man that Sasuke supposed to be the doctor.

Reaching for the knob and turning it to open, the teen in disguise furrowed his brows. The door was locked, so he fished a wire out of his pocket and picked the lock. However, before he could even turn the knob to open, something hard hit him at the base of his neck. And before he completely black out, he saw the blurry image of a woman doll; Milly.

Milly's face darkened as she faked a frown, saying, "You've been a bad boy... Tsunaga Kaoruko. ...Or should I call you... Uchiha... Sasuke?" and then, she giggled maliciously.

The coppery smell of blood that lingered in the air assaulted Sasuke's sense of smell, waking him up. He found himself lying numbly as though drained of his energy on a steel table. His mind was clouded, but can still think rationally nonetheless. He noted that he was in a dark room full of operating utensils and the missing children were dumped at one corner; missing a part of their body and lifeless.

"I see. You finally come around, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke jerked his head to the left to where the voice came from and saw Milly, sitting on a stool with her legs cross. Behind her appeared Mr. Torio, and the doctor that Sasuke had not seen since he arrived in the orphanage.

"Where am I? How do you know my name?" asked the now raven haired teen.

"To answer your questions,-" said the doctor to Milly's left. "-first, you are in my paradise."

"And second,-" Milly supplied. "-when I knocked you out, your transformation broke and I recognise your face from the bingo book I stole from a dead Cadet's mentor from Kiri some time ago."

The infiltrator did not waver his gaze at the three that were smirking at him. Instead, he took the chance to asses his surroundings more.

"At first I thought you're useless when you first came here." Mr. Torio spoke as he moved forward until he was close enough to Sasuke to lean back on the table. "You see, I can tell that your bones are not so strong. It's unnoticeable but I know that you're a little below the standard. However, your skin is special. I bet you ate tomato a lot." he chuckled a little. "It's rare to have kids with your kind of skin that can be used as an alternative skin for those who had theirs burned. Isn't it wonderful? You're perfect! You're not so young, and not so old. Just perfect! See Milly here?" Mr. Torio walked around said woman and stopped behind her. He placed his hands on either sides of Milly's shoulders, leaned forward until his chin touched the crook of Milly's neck. "She's a perfect doll run by technology. Her bones are made of soft-paste material from the bones of _those_ brats! And her skin...is so much like yours... Sa...su...ke... Ahahaha!"

"Why did you creat her?"

Mr. Torio stopped laughing and looked straight at the young man's dark eyes with unreadable expression.

"My daughter..." he began. "She had no legs and arms when she was born, but I loved her so much. I loved her more than anything in this world. Unfortunately, my wife died of child birth and my daughter died on her fifth birthday. I was out of town that time to buy her a present and when I returned, the house was burning. I was too late. I couldn't save her. She had nothing in her to at least help her out of the fire. So, after researching for so many years I finally have my daughter back!"

"So, you pitied those children with the same condition as your daughter and don't care for anyone who was physically perfect." Sasuke concluded, earning a nod from the businessman. "Troublesome." he muttered and asked, "Why didn't you skin me alive while I was out then?"

This time, the doctor answered as he moved to a cylinder that can contain a man. "The preparations are yet to be done apparently. Everything must be in their 100% before we proceed on peeling your skin."

Sasuke did not utter a word after that. He stilled as he felt his strength returning. He just hoped that he had enough chakra to free himself before the preparations completed


	13. Chapter 13

Team Asuma that consisted of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji were on their way to the orphanage Sasuke had reported to the Hokage where the businessman, Mr. Torio, was currently staying in. Tsunade had relayed to the group she had sent on the mission about the things that was happening in the orphanage and Shikamaru, being the most perceptive and smart one, had this theory that, perhaps, those physically healthy children were drugged and their bones were being used as the material in making the artificial body parts.

Shizune had told the team of the findings of the prosthetic arm that Sasuke had sent them along with his report. She said that the artificial limb is made of soft-paste porcelain composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin, which is known for making porcelain tea cups, saucers, and et cetera. The bone used was usually a cow bone, although there were rare cases that it was from a dead person. Using the dead person's bones as a material for making porcelain things can be offending, unless there was permission granted then it was acceptable. But, to kill young ones just to have their bones was unforgivable.

So, Ino found herself silently praying for those poor children who were victimized by a mad man.

Apart from that, it was also said based on Sasuke's report that there were about twenty boxes of the soft-paste porcelain limbs, and Tsunade had this positive suspicion that Mr. Torio was selling it to hospitals. After all, Mr. Torio was quite known for selling good merchandise. It also brought to her notice that Mr. Torio never sold anything to the entire Five Great Nations save for those small villages and towns, and she had this feeling that maybe the businessman thought that he will be found out once he sold his merchandise to any of them.

Night already fell when the team from Konoha arrived at the location of their mission. It was way past eight in the evening.

The team hid behind the shadows of the trees as they observe their surroundings. The whole place was dark with only the first crescent moon as the source of their light. There were not any lights from the building, too, which brought to one conclusion that the children were already sleeping.

"Where do you think Sasuke is?" asked Chouji to no one in particular. And, as if on cue, there was a sudden explosion from the second floor to the west wing of the building, and children's screams were heard.

"Tch. We have no time. We've gotta save the kids!" Shikamaru furrowed his brows as he directed an order to save all of the children and laid out his plan to capture the people involved in the crime as fast as he could while rushing to the building.

Ino was the one who got all the crying children out of the burning building as Shikamaru and Chouji went farther inside were the fire was coming from.

Upon arriving, they found a man in lab coat, which was on fire and the man was trying to extinguish the fire in vain. And then, across from the man were two other people they expected to be Mr. Torio and Milly based on Sasuke's report that were facing the Uchiha, who was kneeling and panting.

"Sasuke!" Shikamaru and Chouji chorused, and the latter asked what had happened, but the former did not allow Sasuke to answer, saying they did not have much time because the fire was spreading faster than they had thought.

The raven haired teen cursed mentally. He had only enough strength to let out a onetime attack to free his person off the doctor's hold and now it left him panting hard. Had it not been for the backup that the Hokage sent on time, he was sure that he will have a hard time saving the children and capture his targets.

Chouji let Shikamaru helped Sasuke on his feet as he glared at Mr. Torio and Milly who also sent a glare back. Just then, Chouji's attention was caught by something at the corner of his eye. And when he fully turned to it, he had the urge to gag and cry. He just saw a bunch of children sprawled on the cold floor at the corner, lifeless and were missing some body parts. "Hoooly shiiit…! What the hell's up with you!?" he cursed and screamed at the opposing team as he rush an attack.

"Don't kill them Chouji. We still need him." reminded Shikamru, hauling Sasuke up. "I'll get Sasuke out." Sasuke would have protested had it not because of his depleted chakra and numbing muscles.

Nodding his head without tearing his glare at the three people they were capturing, Chouji said, "I'll follow you soon with them." And with that, Shikamaru left with Sasuke just as Ino arrived and assessed the situation. It was a piece of cake fighting Mr. Torio, Milly, and the doctor, because they were just ordinary people with extra ordinary minds, so Ino let Chouji beat them as she went to seal the corpse of the children in her sealing scrolls.

. . . .

Naruto could not sleep that night. He had nap around two to three in the afternoon and had woken up at quarter to six, and now it was way past his bedtime with him still wide awake. During his nap, he had a dream. He cannot put a finger of what he had dreamed, but there was this vague image of a boy, he supposed was him, eating noodles off a cup and sitting on a bench. In that scene, there was a couple with their boy passing by him. He did not know what had happened, but the father of the boy had told his son to stay away from the boy who was eating noodles. And said boy, threw his cup of noodles to the man, covering his head with warm noodles. Naruto thought it was nothing of significance and that it was only a dream; not real. However, it felt like there was more to it. He felt like something had tugged at his heart.

The blonde boy had been thinking of it ever since he had woken up, and it only brought him light headache. So, Naruto stopped thinking of it for now and thought of positive things like him being released tomorrow. He still cannot feel his legs though and there was this occasional pain at his backside as though a very long and thin needle shot through from his tailbone up to the base of his neck in a split of second, but he was still glad to be out of hospital nonetheless.

_But…_ Naruto frowned. _Is Sasuke even home? Will he be there waiting for me? Who will pick me up tomorrow…?_ Then, he sighed. _I guess it would be Kakashi-nii-chan. He said he'll be taking care of me._

Ironing his facial expression into a neutral one, Naruto forced to erase all of his thoughts when his head started to pound even more as he closed his eyes.

Then a small smile appeared on the boy's face when he suddenly remembered that at some point of the time, the Hokage had called Sasuke and probably had given him a mission that was why the reason Sasuke was unable to visit him. "Maybe he's only taking too long in his mission and I'll welcome him once his back." However as fast as that thought came, it was smashed by a memory that was from his dream.

"_I'm going to severe our bonds. In that way I will only gain power to kill _him_!"_

Opening his eyes, Naruto spoke to the air as though it will bring his words to Sasuke to hear him.

"Don't you want me, Sasuke…?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Note: Hey, guys! What's up? Anywaysss...have I told you that we're nearing the end?**

**In here, you'll meet a hysterical Naruto. When a person becomes hysterical, he's unable to think rationally and the bottled up feelings will just erupt like an active volcano because he can't handle the strain in his mind anymore. I think this happens to some who likes to keep everything inside, or has no courage to let anyone know because they're afraid to be ridiculed and or has difficulty in trusting others with their secrets. Once a person becomes like this, blaming or telling them their mistakes is not a likable way to calm them or open their minds. Try to understand them. Try telling them that's it's okay or it's alright I forgive you or something like that and avoid yelling at them. What they need is someone who understand them and not the other way around.**

**How do I know thise things? Because I experienced it first hand. So, yeah...**

**Now... let's move on and read already!**

* * *

At dawn, the group of Konoha ninjas had their captives, Mr. Torio, and the doctor, in handcuffs while Milly, which was nothing more than a broken doll hung limply on Chouji's shoulder, and the children were following them closely. The fight last night had been pretty quick and they had all the persons responsible for the crime they did save for one; Futa, the businessman's man servant. They had searched everywhere, but never found the man, and none of the captives would speak anything. However, Ino prodded Mr. Torio's mind to get what they wanted, but the man's twisted mind was worst she had ended up throwing up after. Even so, the young lady had done her task well though they had found nothing about Futa's whereabouts except the time Mr. Torio had seen the man off without permission. And because of that, Shikamaru had found something amiss in their situation. They were missing something very important. Despite that, they chose to walk back home, hand the captives to the custody, and have Sasuke check up since he was still feeling numb all over because of the toxic he had received.

Ino, who was walking in front, was looking after the children while Shikamaru with Sasuke on his back, and Chouji with the captives were close behind.

The whole group travelling to Konoha but the children were silent as Shikamaru thought back to the recent events and Sasuke was deep in his thoughts since the first crack of dawn.

The raven haired teen did not feel the anxiety he had felt prior his arrival at the orphanage and that last time when he had thought of Naruto, now that he was coming back home, but he felt like there was something clutching his chest a little painfully and guilty was eating him bit by bit. Then, his mind drifted to his and his team's first C-rank mission.

"C-ranks must be cursed..."

Shikamaru heard Sasuke muttered incoherently, though he caught the word cursed, so he looked over his shoulder and asked, "You sayin' something?"

Realizing he had spoken his thoughts, Sasuke snapped back to reality. "Pardon?"

"I was asking you if you were saying something." repeated Shikamaru, looking back ahead.

"Oh. I just remembered our team's first C-rank mission that turned out an A-rank one. It was a tad bit similar to my mission now..."

Shikamaru sighed. "That's troublesome."

Sasuke stared ahead in contentment. He liked the smell of fresh air and leaves that lingered in the air. He really missed the old times when he was younger, when everything seemed perfect in his eyes. And, without a thought, he spoke. "I wonder how Naruto is doing…" And everything went still just like that. Noticing the sudden shift in the atmosphere that even the children sensed, Sasuke looked at Ino who had turned to stared at him, inquiring her.

"Uhm…" Ino trailed off as she fidgeted with her fingers and looked at the side. Peering at Sasuke, she asked, "Have you not receive the message Lady Hokage had sent you?"

Mr. Torio and the doctor shared a look.

"No. I haven't. What is it? Tell me." replied Sasuke, knowing that he was missing something important.

"Ino." Chouji furrowed his brows. "Since the message did not receive Sasuke, I think it would be better if we tell him now." he said, earning a nod from Ino.

Straightening up, Ino said, "Something had happened to Naruto."

. . . .

_Finally._ Naruto, who was sitting on a wheelchair, thought as he was pushed out of the hospital building by Kakashi. Breathing in a lungful of fresh air, the boy smiled. _I can't wait to see Sasuke._ In spite of the growing distrust toward the raven haired teen, Naruto was hoping that what Sasuke had told him prior his accident were true and not just empty promises.

"You ready, Naruto?" asked Kakashi and the boy looked over his shoulder and up to face the man with a small smile that contradicted his eyes, which the Elite did not fail to notice. "Is something wrong?"

"Hm-mm." little Naruto shook his head as he closed his eyes briefly. "I wanted to see Sasuke. He hasn't been visiting me since."

"Hm. Okay. Let's go then."

The walk, or in Naruto's case, the ride through the street was pleasant. The villagers were happy to see Naruto out of the hospital and most of them were coming closer to the boy to stop Kakashi from going farther so that they could greet Naruto and give him things they thought he would like. Kakashi could feel a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead at the sight as the villagers said their thanks to Naruto for he had done for everyone and smothered the poor boy with pleasantries. Though, little did they know, Naruto was starting to freak as his young wounded mind was playing tricks on him again. And Kakashi was not paying attention at the boy's predicament; too submerged in his train of thoughts.

Naruto, unbeknownst to the villagers, stared at the people around him with wide fearful eyes. He saw the people in his mind's eye as they morphed into a shadowy figure with eyes and smiles that resembled white crescent moons and the background turned into a sinister hue of red and black, and saw them trying to talk to him. He can also hear them say words that he cannot hear nor decipher. However, words like demon, monster, murderer, and kill sunk in him and the rest flew over his head. Looking around frantically, the blonde boy searched for a mop of white gravity-defying hair in vain as he was being swallowed by the shadows.

In reality, Kakashi got succumb in the orange pocket book in the sidelines, oblivious of what was happening to the boy.

"Ka-…K-Ka…" the blonde boy tried to call in an almost inaudible voice that only he could hear as he shrink further in his wheelchair, trying to escape the shadows hands and eerie smiles and taunts. "…nn…no…" he then clutched his head and shook it from left to right. "…s-sto-….K-Ka…sh…ishi…"

The people around Naruto began to notice the boy's distraught and they looked at him worriedly. They started asking him questions like; what was wrong, are you hurt, you alright, or something from the line.

"…no…n-not…'m not…" mumbled Naruto.

"Eh? Come again?" asked one of the men in the crowd.

"…not m-mon…s…ter…" Naruto tried again. Naruto's thoughts went on like that for another half a minute until he cannot take it anymore and screamed. "I'm not monster! NO! I'M NOT! I'M NOT! I'M NOT! I'M NOT! I'M. NOT!" and then, he started sobbing.

Kakashi was snapped out of his book upon hearing Naruto screamed and he rushed to the boy, weaving his way through the crowd that had accumulated around the crying boy. Grabbing him y shoulders, the Elite ninja asked, "What's wrong, Naruto? What happened?" worriedly, only to have the hysterical boy to cry even more.

"WHYYY!? WHY HATE ME!?" this time, Naruto shut his eyes close whilst still clutching his head, almost ripping his hair out of his scalp. Kakashi pried the boy's hands off his head, but whenever he did it came back immediate, latching on it. "Don't hate me…!" Naruto sobbed. "…Please…don't hate me…" and then he whimpered as he cried on Kakashi's chest.

The man had no idea what had triggered Naruto to be hysterical. Thinking it would be best for the boy to e left alone, he flickered away with Naruto to his apartment, leaving the sobered crowd that just realized what kind of pain they had inflicted on Naruto during his childhood years.


	15. Chapter 15

Sai was strolling down the less crowded street of Konoha when he stumbled upon a scene he had never thought of looking forward to. There, just outside of the rundown apartment were three women in their thirties, knocking on the door that lead to Naruto's flat. Sai decided to check what the matter was, so he leaped up and landed behind the women.

"Is there something you need from Naruto?" asked Sai, surprising the women who had not noticed his arrival.

The women turned around with slightly wide eyes, which reverted to its normal sizes.

"Are you his friend?" asked one of the women that had a shoulder length dark hair tied in a ponytail at the base of her neck. She was wearing dull pink skirt that reached below her knees, and pale yellow V-neck shirt. She was carrying a lunch box.

"Yes, I am." replied Sai.

"Oh! We've been knocking his door for quite a while now. It seems he isn't here for a moment. Do you where he could be at the moment?"

Sai subtly scrutinized the women. The other two both have brown hair though did have the same shade. The one at the right had her hair in a bun and was wearing a corner sleeveless dress with bright yellow dot at the lower left portion that formed a right triangle. While the other one at the left had let her chin length hair down. She was wearing a turtle neck white sweater, which was inappropriate since it was pretty hot at the moment, and black sweat pants. Then, Sai noticed the last woman's pale complexion. _She must be sick._ Sai thought. Apart from that, he noted that all the of the women had lunch boxes with them wrapped in fancy cloth.

Trying a friendly smile, which went unnoticed by the women, Sai inquired, "Well, Do you, ma'am, know that Naruto is a brat right now?"

The women nodded. "Yes, we do." said the one at the right.

"Do you know where to find him? We want to give him this." the woman at left gestured to the lunch boxes.

"I can see that." said Sai, nodding. "Because of Naruto's condition, he's currently living with his current guardian while his official guardian's away. I believe you'll find Naruto at sir Kakashi's apartment."

"Thank you, young man!" exclaimed the first woman; the one at the middle of the three. "We Better go and give him this."

"I hope he'll like it." the woman at the left smiled while the one at right agreed and asked, "Where does he live?"

"At the Konoha's apartment for Commoner and Elite Ninjas..." he trailed off as the women hurried out without letting him finish his sentence.

Sai only watched as the women left the apartment before he went back to strolling the streets in search of something beautiful to draw.

. . . .

Kakashi, without his usual vest, just got out of his room when there was a knock on his door. He walked up to the door and opened it slightly. Not expecting to s see the women, he asked, "Yes, how may I help you?"

It was the women from before whom Sai had the opportunity of conversing with.

The woman in pale yellow shirt greeted the white haired man with a smile and said, "We're looking for Naruto to give him these." she lifted a lunch box. "A good young man pointed us here"

"Ah. Naruto's asleep though I can give him that when he wakes up. That is if it's okay with you."

"Of course. Just heat it up when he does."

"Right. I'm thanking you in his behalf." Kakashi replied as he took the lunch boxes from the women.

The lady that had her hair in a bun that stood a little behind the sorry haired one, who was beside the woman in shirt, chucked softly. "Don't mention it please. It's the least we can do to thank him. We didn't have the opportunity to do so after he saved its from the last attack before the war because we were all top occupied in rebuilding the village, but now's the time."

"Alright" Kakashi shrugged.

Saying their goodbyes, the women finally left and Kakashi closed the door with a click. Turning around, the man peek inside one of the lunch boxes.

"This looks good. Maybe Naruto wouldn't mind if I test this." Kakashi spoke his thoughts. And, by the word ' test', he meant to eat one of the boxes.

So, Kakashi found himself sitting in the table staring at the lunch before him as he thought back at what had happened not long ago. He had decided to let Naruto be greeted by the villagers, thinking it was time for him to be thanked for what he had done over the past and treated as a hero like he was supposed to be since his birth. He thought that Naruto would love the positive attention he was given, but what Kakashi did not anticipated was for the boy to start screeming and hyperventilating as he cried his eyes out. The man simply had no idea, but thinking further back, he had a hunch that Naruto's childhood depression had caught up to him. But why though, Kakashi did not know.

After the incident, Kakashi had brought Naruto back to his apartment. The boy silently cried on the man's bed while the latter was rubbing the former's back in an attempt to comfort the boy. And, after an hour or two, Naruto had finally calmed down and fell asleep after exhausting himself.

Kakashi only hoped that whatever was troubling Naruto would disappear soon. He had never seen the boy so terrified just by being surrounded by so many people. After all, the blonde was the kind who seeks attention, and it worried Kakashi to witness the boy so afraid to people.

_Could it be that Naruto only experience this because of his head injury? Or...could be that he had been afraid of other people at this age before until he grew out of it, and now experiencing it once again only triggered his hysteria?_


	16. Chapter 16

**Note: I have a guest who reviewed, saying I should change Futa's name 'cause it's something not good. Well, I chose that name because it means a lot of good things, but to be precise, it means not selfish, loving and good in resolving problems, or helpful. If you're referring to something else, then all I can say is that, it's probably an abbreviation of sorts 'cause once upon a time I stumbled upon something like F.U.T.A. It's something about military and government, I think.**

**Or maybe, you mean something else that is not actually a name but a term of some sort of that is not a good thing. Furthermore, Futa family exists.**

**I appreciate your concern. However, you misunderstood the name.**

**And one more thing. A name Futa is different from the term Futa.**

* * *

A twelve-year old Naruto painfully stared at what his best rival had become. The blonde boy was hunched above the water's surface at the Valley of the End where he and the raven haired boy were fighting against each other of what they believed.

Running out of strength, Naruto resorted to using the Nine-tailed Fox's chakra in hopes of breaking all of Sasuke's bones enough for him to be able to drag the Uchiha back to Konoha without any struggles; their home village. Unfortunately, things did not go as the blonde had planned. Sasuke's curse mark activated and it clouded the raven's mind by huge amount of power to achieve his long awaited goal; to kill Itachi.

The battle between the two raged on, throwing powerful techniques at one another, punching and kicking, while communicating through exchange of fists. And, words exchanged between them, knowing the hurtful look that showed through their eyes. Their fight was so fast that they had not realized they were about to throw their most powerful technique in their arsenals; Rasengan and Chidori, until their fists collided.

Sasuke waited until the blinding light faded before he went to check on Naruto who was bleeding as he lied still on the uncomfortable ground. The raven haired boy did not know when it had started raining, but his thoughts never lingered at that matter for too long as he loomed over his unconscious blonde teammate. He stared stoically at the tanned face of the blonde boy. It never showed on the raven's face but, a sensor type ninja can feel the atmosphere that surrounded the Uchiha.

Sasuke was torn between love and hate. He wanted bonds so much that he could not imagine it, but the thought of losing it once again scared him the most. He did not want to feel the unbearable pain again. He would rather be alone and unwanted than watch the people that were close to his heart suffer because of him. That way, when he died, no one will cry and feel the pain of losing him. It was selfish actually, but he did not care. He just wanted to be freed of the pain, and leaving Naruto behind will be the first step.

Naruto was the very first one who understood him and saw him as Sasuke and not Uchiha. The blonde was the raven's first friend after his clan died. And, to break their bond, Sasuke knew that his feelings will die as well, which will make it easy for him to forget in the future.

But, at the same time, Sasuke had an unexplainable feeling of wanting to be save.

If only Naruto was awake, Sasuke was sure that the blonde would feel the pain Sasuke had despite the raven's face that denied everything.

. . . .

Naruto woke up with a start after his dream as he panted like he had just came out of the water. It was his first time of seeing his dream so vivid and crystal clear without missing a single detail about the battle at the Valley of the End between the blonde boy and the raven that looked so similar to him and his guardian Sasuke. Before he was sure it was them despite the vague and clouded images he had seen in his dream, but now it confused him. He was four and Sasuke was seventeen, so why they appeared like twelve or thirteen in his dream? It really baffled him.

"Naruto?" inquired Kakashi as he peeked inside his own room to check on the boy, who turned to look at him. "I've prepared breakfast for you." he informed as he sauntered farther inside and helped the boy in his wheelchair. "How are you feeling."

"... Not good..." came a tired reply from the boy.

Kakashi wheeled Naruto out of the room to the kitchen. "Is your head aches again?"

"A little, yes. And my lower back is aching, too."

"Oh? Is it that needle like pain?" asked the man as he placed the boy in the table and gave him a bowl of fruit cereal and a glass of milk.

Naruto took a spoonful of cereal before he replied. "No. It feels like I've been lifting heavy things and now my back's hurting."

"You mean you're sore?"

The boy nodded.

"That's good!" Kakashi beamed, making Naruto halted his right hand that held his spoon with cereal in mid air and looked at the man, dumbfounded, while his mouth hang open. Seeing the boy's reaction, Kakashi corrected, "What I mean is that, you're starting to feel. If this continues and with proper guidance and medication, then you'll be able to walk again pretty soon."

"Really?" asked a wide eyed Naruto.

"Yup. So, hurry up and finish your meal. You have an appointment with doctor Sasaki and we're visiting someone."

Naruto frowned at the thought of going out. It had been three days since he was released from the hospital and he never dared to ask Kakashi for a walk or stroll outside. "Can't doctor Sasaki come here instead, Kakashi-niichan?"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but he can't. He has patients in the hospital that he needed to attend to. Besides, we're visiting someone."

"Who?"

"Sasuke."

At the mention of the boy's guardian, Naruto looked down on his cereal with a saddened face. He wanted to see Sasuke, but his feelings towards the teen were conflicting and confusing. He was happy that Sasuke was finally back. However, he was anxious of facing the said teen. Was Sasuke still held hatred to him, the boy could not be sure. He knew it was only a dream, but it made him uneasy. Furthermore, going to hospital means setting the villagers that used to hate him and not acknowledge his existence.

Furrowing his brows, Naruto whimpered, "I really dun' wanna go, Kakashi-niichan."

"But, Naruto...you need to. It's for your sake. You had regained your hand-and-eye coordination, thanks to the therapy and the wooden blocks Tenzou had given you. You want to be a ninja, right?"

Yes, Naruto wanted to be s ninja; a great and powerful one like the Fourth.

"You won't become a ninja if you don't go to see the doctor for check up and rehab, much less become a great one."

And Naruto knew it, but he stubbornly opposed Kakashi who better knew well than to force the child


	17. Chapter 17

Sasuke sat on his hospital bed for approximately two hours. When he and the team the Hokage had sent out on a mission had arrived back in Konoha, Shikamaru took the liberty of taking their captives to the authorities and reporting the outcome of their mission together with Ino who had the children with her while Chouji had accompanied Sasuke to the hospital. The numbness Sasuke had decreased during the span of their travel. However, he still had to go see a doctor to have the toxic out of his system with the medication he was prescribed by the doctor.

The teen was thinking of what he had heard from Ino. Apparently, he did not receive the message the Hokage had sent to him. Probably, someone had caught it before him since he was held captive during that time. So now he was worrying about Naruto's health. What if Naruto couldn't be a ninja anymore because he cannot use his legs? He asked himself mentally. Just then, he was snapped out of his thoughts when a knock came.

"Come in." said Sasuke.

The door slid open and in walk was Kakashi with a tousled hair.

The raven haired teen raised a brow. "Whatever happened to you, Kakashi?"

"Nah." the man scratched his head. "I got into a spoon fight against Naruto." he chuckled. "Seems like his stubbornness is kicking in now."

"Hn." was Sasuke indifferent reply as he averted his gaze outside the window to his right. "How is he?"

"He's doing well. I supposed you heard what had happened?"

Looking back at his former mentor, Sasuke replied monotonously, "Yes. But, not the story of how it happened."

"Right. Well, it all began when Naruto was walking back home when he unfortunately ran into a drunk man who was responsible to Naruto's condition. He must've provoked the man at some point."

"I know him. Naruto wouldn't do that except when he felt frustrated or he needed to. Besides, he's only a four-year old boy now."

"I thought so, too. Anyway, would you like to see him? He's with doctor Sasaki now." inquired Kakashi, earning a nod from Sasuke. So, the man helped the teen out of the bed to stand and the former supported the latter's weight as they walked out of the room to where Naruto was.

Naruto was lying on his stomach on the bed whilst silently crying when the door opened to reveal Kakashi and Sasuke who was slumped against the former. The newly arrived ninjas made doctor Sasaki stopped on his current task, which was pulling the needles that buried on Naruto's lower back out.

"Oh, hello again Sasuke. I see you're here to see the boy, no?" said doctor Sasaki; the one who had tended Sasuke's case.

The teen nodded at the doctor who then resumed on working, and pulled himself off Kakashi before going to the blonde's side. The said blonde looked up with watery eyes and running nose to see the teen staring down at him for a second or two before burying his face down on the pillow.

"I heard what had happened. I'm sorry when I wasn't there to protect you when I made a promise to not let anyone harm you. I'm sorry, Naruto." to anyone, Sasuke sounded anything but sincere. However, to those who knew him well enough to tell the difference, he really meant everything he said.

Naruto was happy to see Sasuke again and wanted to tackle the teen if his condition allowed him to, but he was anxious at the same time and a little scared. The boy wanted to say something or anything to the teen, but it seemed he was tongue tied at the moment, which only made him cry more. And, Sasuke can only watch the boy, wondering what was wrong. The teen then turned to look at the doctor who had just finish pulling off all of the needles that were embedded on Naruto's back.

Doctor Sasaki looked at the raven haired teen straight in the eye with a sympathetic look as he shrugged, guessing that Sasuke was asking him why Naruto was crying. Thinking it was best for the two boys to sort out their feelings, the doctor followed Kakashi out of the room.

Looking back down at the boy, the teen asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Y-you..." Naruto hiccupped; his voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Me? What about me?"Asked Sasuke curiously, sitting beside Naruto.

"...You left..."

Ah, yes. Sasuke remembered that he had promised to never leave again, yet he did leave, but it was different. He left because he was ordered to, a mission. However, to this boy, he left because of another reason. What though, he had no idea, but he had a hunch of what it could be.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke spoke softly. "I was given a mission and didn't have the chance to tell you of it. I swear I did look for you, so I can tell you, but I didn't find you." he explained slowly.

Finally, Naruto looked over his shoulder to face his guardian and sniffed. "I understand. ... It was because someone had attacked me, which was why you couldn't find me."

Sometimes Sasuke wondered how Naruto can speak like a grown up man in a childish way, and why the Naruto he went to academy with when they were younger, had fought against, and had fought together with seemed to not understand well if someone talked to him in an old fashioned way, or in formal. Could it be because he had no one to talk to when at home every time? He thought. Anyone who did not have someone to talk to for a very long time sometimes lost that ability.

"Sasuke..."

"Hn. Tell me, who did this to you."

Resting his head on the pillow, Naruto replied, "I dunno... Can't even remember why. But, Kakashi said that man is in jail already."

"I see. Well, that's good. By the way, Kakashi said he got into a spoon fight. Care to tell me what had happened?" Sasuke asked to change the subject.

"He wanted me to be here." the pouted. "I dun' wanna go out, y' know."

"Why?"

Naruto said nothing. Instead, he said, "Can we go home, Sasuke?"

Sighing, the teen relented even though he wanted to know more. But, he noticed that his charge was feeling a little discomfort due to his sore back. "Okay, let's go home. Would you like something to eat? Perhaps, ramen?"

Naruto nodded silently, and Sasuke lifted the boy by his armpits and held him close to his person add they walked out to meet Kakashi and the doctor.


	18. Chapter 18

**Note: Heyyy...I'm back with a new chapter! I hope you'll like it. Spoon fight will be explained here by Scarecrow.**

* * *

Sasuke did not know what to do. He had said that they were going home, but when they got to the hospital's entrance, Naruto suddenly trashed in Sasuke's arms. The teen tried to calm the boy in vain for more or less five minutes until Dr. Sasaki and Kakashi appeared and saw the predicament the teen was in. Sighing, the Elite ninja beckoned Sasuke to follow them; he and the doctor, back inside, and they all noticed that Naruto started to calm down until he was only panting. The raven haired teen settled the blonde boy on the bed and sat beside the said boy. Peering down to see Naruto's face that was contorted in fear, Sasuke asked, "Hey, is there something wrong?"

Naruto did not speak. Instead, he just stared on his lap, crying silently.

Looking up, Sasuke inquired his former mentor what was happening to Naruto just by looking at the man, who caught the question pretty quick. With a sigh and a scratch on his head, Kakashi said, "Remember I told you of the spoon fight?" Sasuke nodded. "Well…I told Naruto that we're going to have a check up and therapy with Dr. Sasaki here.-" he pointed at the doctor to his right with his thumb. "-But Naruto didn't like the idea of coming here. He asked if doc could come and see him, but I told him that he couldn't. Then, before I knew it, we were engaged in a spar with him using his spoon and me using a fork to defend myself while I convinced him to come here in the hospital. He even went as far as to throw his bowl of cereal at me, but I dodge so no harm done." He shrugged. "Since we're not going anywhere and we're already late, I knocked him out, and woke up here then cried when he saw what was being done to him by the doctor."

Sasuke had the feeling of déjà vu of the situation Kakashi had been not long ago. When the troupe first came back after a very long day since the end of the recent war, Naruto never went outside of the apartment he shared with Sasuke and did not show any signs of liking the idea of outside. Now, after bringing the boy to the park and about a week in the hospital, Naruto was back to square one where he refused to go out, only he was violent this time.

"I think we should let him rest here and sleep…" doctor Sasaki suggested. He had seen the blonde boy when he was at the age of seven or eight occasionally when he was running an errand or just simply strolling. He even tended to the boy once when the said boy had a high fever because of the infected wound. He did not like the boy nor did he hate him. He just felt nothing towards the blonde until he saw the look in the boy's eyes. He can see the fear and hatred reflected in those beautiful blue eyes that somehow seemed familiar to him, and he got a hunch that someone had beaten the boy a few days ago and his wound on the left side of his body was left untreated until it got infected, which lead to a high fever. He had asked the poor boy that time where and how he got the wound and the boy said, _"I befriended a boy and we played tag. I was it and when I touched his back, he fell forward to the seesaw and hit his forehead. I didn't mean to hurt him. I just didn't noticed how fast I was running after him and the touch became push that's why he fell forward. He didn't cry though, and I said sorry. He accepted and we're about to play again when his father came and my friend was snatched away from me. His father noticed the slight lump on his son and he beat me for hurting his son…" _It was still clear to Dr. Sasaki's mind what Naruto had told him a decade ago, and since then, he had been looking out for the boy.

Kakashi noticed the underlying message in Dr. Sasaki's suggestion: 'When he's asleep, you can take him back home.' Nodding, the white haired ninja agreed and said, "It would be best for Naruto."

He knew it already, but nonetheless nodded. Turning his attention back to Naruto, Sasuke said, "Hey, are you tired?"

Naruto shook his head.

_This would be a problem._ Kakashi thought.

"Okay. How about I uy you ramen?" Sasuke tried.

Again, Naruto shook his head. "I just ate." He said.

Raising a brow, Sasuke spoke. "Really? But you just agreed you want to."

Naruto looked up with tear stained cheeks and glassy blue eyes. "I did? But, I'm not hungry."

"What're we going to do then? Play?"

"No…" the boy shook his head as he looked back down on his lap. "I'm tired…" he said, which was apparent.

"You sleep, then."

"Okay." He relented, and Sasuke helped him lay down on his back, tucking him in. the teen stroked the boy's hair little and the latter slowly closed him eyes to sleep.

"I thought he did not want to sleep?" Kakashi commented.

Flipping the pages on the clipboard, Dr. Sasaki explained, "It's an expected reply from Naruto. He suffered head trauma. One of the symptoms is not answering the questions correctly apart from changes in physical coordination and balance, difficulty in identifying a place or person, being emotional, irritated, or basically mood swing, headaches, and et cetera. You don't have to worry though. It'll pass with proper medication and therapy. However, I can't be so sure if he'll completely recover, because there are cases where patients experience headaches from time to time after the recovery and sometimes a life time internal bleeding. But, in Naruto's case, the most he'll have is headaches."

"What if Naruto did have internal bleeding…?" Kakashi inquired.

The doctor saw Sasuke's nod and his stoic expression that somehow the former felt like he has to answer the question thrown at him as though Naruto would have internal bleeding and they fear that there was no cure to it. Huffing as he rested his arms to the sides, he replied, "First, let me explain to you what is internal bleeding." He paused. "Internal bleeding is a blood loss that occurs from the vascular system into a body cavity or space. The severity depends on bleeding rate and location of the bleeding; it's a serious medical emergency and can cause cardiac arrest or worst death if not treated quickly. One of the causes is trauma, which Naruto falls in the category. However, despite his condition, we're quite sure that he won't have this kind of case. But then again, internal bleeding can also be cause by complications after surgical operations or medical treatment, or latrogenesis as a result. Some medication effects may also lead to internal bleeding, such as the use of anticoagulant drugs, which is to prevent the clotting of blood, or antiplatelet drugs, which decreases platelet aggregation, in the treatment of coronary artery disease. We don't give Naruto these types of drugs, he'll be fine. There's a possibility that he'll bleed if he hit his head again and the worst he could get is a minor case of internal bleeding that can be treated using catheter to get all the blood that accumulated in one area." He finished and appended, "So, if you'll take care of the boy well, specifically his head, everything will go smoothly and recovery just fine."

"Thank you." said Sasuke before he turned to Naruto and noted that the boy was fast asleep.

"Take him home, Sasuke." Kakashi told his former student.

"Hn."

"I just hope that he'll recovery soon, and hopefully, return to normal. I kind of miss the teen Naruto."


	19. Chapter 19

Naruto woke up; his eyelids opened ever so slowly as he dazedly gazed ahead without seeing the ceiling above him as his muddled brain was processing to register where he was. It took only a minute before he realized that he was back on his bed in his room in Sasuke's apartment and half a minute afterwards when he noticed that he had slept through the morning and since the hue outside his window was a mixture of yellow and orange, he guessed it was already late in the afternoon. Sitting up, he looked around for his wheelchair and found it at the other side of his bed. He carefully pulled the said wheelchair closer, moved his legs to dangle at the edge of the bed with his hands, and forced his person to stand with the help of the wheelchair that he was holding onto for support. He felt his back ache a little before the needle like feeling pierced through his spine for a split of a second, making him froze and lost his balance as he crumbled down the floor.

Sasuke was in the kitchen, gutting a salmon, when he heard a noise coming from his charge's room. He placed the fish on the chopping board before he moved a little to his left and turned the faucet on to wash his hands clean. When his hands were blood free, he turned the faucet off, and wiped his hands on his white apron as he made his way to Naruto room.

The door clicked and creaked opened, and the raven haired teen peaked inside to see Naruto on his bed, only to find it empty. Sauntering farther inside, Sasuke saw the wheelchair laying on its side and across from it was Naruto flat on his face.

"Hey." Sasuke called as he kneeled beside the blonde boy and heaved the latter into a sitting position. "What are you doing out the bed?"

Rubbing his face, Naruto answered, "I'm trying to get into my wheelchair when I felt pain on my back and I fell."

"Pain?" Sasuke never heard of it, so he asked.

The boy nodded. "Hm. I always felt something piercing my back from my butt to my neck like a long needle. Though, this morning it was different. Kakashi-niichan said it's called sore."

"Do you always feel it? The piercing pain, I mean."

"Before, yes. But, lately, no until now."

"I see. How about we go and see the doctor?"

"NO!" exclaimed Naruto, grabbing Sasuke by his shirt. "I mean…" he trailed off as he averted his uncertain gazed away from Sasuke and onto the floor. "…Do-doctor Sasaki said it's normal and will go away soon."

It was a lie, but Sasuke said nothing regarding about it. He knew Naruto just did not want to go outside.

Sighing, Sasuke lifted the boy in his arms and put the latter back on bed before he sat beside the blonde. "Wanna tell me why you don't like outside?"

There was a pregnant silence as Naruto looked down, staring on his lap and contemplating on whether to tell his guardian the truth or not. He thought if he did tell the teen, maybe the latter could answer his question as to why the villagers hate him. But then again, Sasuke could be lying to him, pretending to be his friend even though the truth was Sasuke also hates him. And, his dreams only fed the idea of Sasuke hating him, so he thought of another option.

With a huff, Naruto looked up at Sasuke and grinned. "I don't mind going outside, really. I'm not just comfortable with too many people."

"Liar." was Sasuke bland reply.

"What?" Naruto looked at the raven haired teen incredulously. "I'm not lying. It's true, y'know!"

"I don't believe you, Naruto, so spill it already or I'll force you out." Sasuke warned firmly.

"I told you it's true!"

"It's not. Don't lie to me."

"No!"

When they were travelling back to Konoha, Sasuke had the time to ponder of the past. He had seen Naruto did things that would send anyone into madness like his pranks, and received punishments because of that. At first, he thought of the blonde as an idiot, and good for nothing. But, when he noticed that Naruto was doing it every chance he got, he realized that the blonde was trying to connect to people, which reminded him of his family. And later on, he saw the eyes of the people when they saw Naruto. It was not the eyes of an annoyed man because of a simple prank, but rather, it was the eyes that filled with coldness and hatred. The villagers hated Naruto, which Sasuke did not know why back then. And now that he had thought of that, he realized that Naruto was afraid of the people. He had no idea how they treated the blonde boy at the age of four, but he had a theory that the villagers used to beat the boy until they grew tired of it and only sent him glares as he grew up.

And, Sasuke only wanted his little charge to tell him the truth. But, the boy was being hard to him.

"Why are you lying, Naruto?"

"I told you already. I'm just not comfortable with other people around me."

"And I can tell that you are lying."

Frustrated, Naruto gritted his teeth and pushed Sasuke with all his strength he had. "You're annoying! Just get out already!" he bellowed as he slammed the pillow in front of him.

"Fine." Sasuke sighed and stood. "I'll get you for dinner later. We'll have salmon cake, fried rice, and your favourite, miso ramen. And for our drink, we'll have lemon juice." And with that, Sasuke left, but not before he said something that made Naruto frozen and wide eyed.

oOo

"Master Tsunade."Shizune, who had Ton-ton the pig in her arms, spoke worriedly as she noticed how tired her lady; she stood before the Fifth Hokage.

Sighing as she leaned back and rued her temple, Tsunade said, "I finally found the way to return Naruto back to normal."

Shizune brightened up at the news and so as Ton-ton, who made a cheering noise considering she's a pig. "Really?" she asked with disbelief.

"Yes." Tsunade smiled a little at her assistant and apprentice.

"Well, that's great-!"

"However…" the Hokage cut the woman off; her small smile wavered. "The technique to reverse the effect is incomplete. I already learned how to implement the technique that was used against Naruto, and with this I would like to test it to a test subject and perform the reversal technique that I would come up with after further study. This will be tricky and dangerous. If the reversal technique is performed while it's incomplete, the subject would be permanently young. And I mean, he'd never grow again, he'd remain in the age he's currently in. If the reversal technique is complete, but wrong, then the subject would probably disappear in existence, or comatose or worst…die."

"What…?" Shizune was horrified. "Th-then…Naruto… what'll happen to him?"

"As of now, nothing. I'm still studying the incomplete reversal technique. I could use your and Sakura's help in this matter."

"Of course Mater Tsunade. I'll help you in this."

"Thank you." Tsunade nodded. "Gather Sakura and meet me in my study within fifteen mintues."

"Understood, Lady Hokage." Said Shizune, bowing before her leader, and excused herself.


	20. Chapter 20

"I'm hurting whenever you're hurt." Sasuke whispered almost inaudibly, but Naruto heard him nonetheless before the raven haired teen slowly exited the room, closing the door behind, and leaned on it. Sasuke let out a shaky breath before he slid down the floor and hang his head down while his arms rested on either of his knees. He knew what was bothering the blonde boy and should not have forced the said blonde to confess. However, he wanted the boy to come clean, believing it was better that way to relieve someone's stress which also meant that he was being trusted. But apparently, Naruto did not trust Sasuke enough to tell what the problem was.

Sighing once again, Sasuke decided to leave Naruto on his own to have some time for himself to come to terms, and the latter went back to the kitchen to resume what he had been doing not long ago.

Meanwhile, Naruto remained frozen on his bed. Since the first dream he had of the Uchiha rejecting his friendship and trying to kill him in most of the occasions, Naruto had been dreaming of it more frequently. He found it confusing because of their different ages in his dream, but paid it no heed anymore because he had a strong sense that it was significant and more than just an ordinary dream. Naruto loved his guardian, but the dreams kept him doubtful of the said guardian's motives against him. He could be one of those villagers that wanted him out of their lives, and speaking of villagers, they were acting odd. He thought. The boy did not noticed it until now when he was left to think that the villagers were always smiling at him whenever he was out in the public and were genuinely treating him good, and that his mind was only playing tricks on him, making him believed that their smiles were only a mask of their true desire; him being dead. Was it because he had hit his head and the doctor was fixing him to be good as new? He idly thought whilst staring at the ceiling.

And then, there was that Sasuke had said before leaving the room. Naruto did not understand what it was supposed to mean. When I hit my head, did he feel it, too? He asked himself mentally. But despite that, somehow he got a warm feeling in his chest that made him still, which was not right because you're not supposed to freeze when it's warm. He frowned.

"What is this I'm feeling? I just can't explain…" Naruto spoke his thoughts out loud, obliviously to the door being opened and Sasuke leaning on the doorframe with a lopsided smirk plastered on his smug looking face.

"Did you quote that from a song?" asked Sasuke, jerking Naruto out of his musing in surprise.

"When did you get here? And what are you doing here? Is dinner ready?" asked the boy frantically.

Sasuke, after preparing their supper, had made his mind to set aside what had transpired in Naruto's room awhile ago while he went to get Naruto for dinner. Apparently, Naruto did not trust Sasuke enough to tell what was bothering him, so the latter decided to gain the former's trust first by showing his little charge how much he care.

"One at a time, Naruto." Chided Sasuke lightly. "Anyway, I got here just in time you spoke the words. I'm here to check on you and collect you, because dinner's ready."

Furrowing his brows, Naruto turned his head toward the window and saw that it was already dark outside, which he did not notice until now, because he was too cope up in his thoughts. "Oh…"

Footsteps made a thudding noise on the wooden floor as Sasuke sauntered further inside and rounded the bed to Naruto's right side. The teen picked the boy up and settled the said boy on the wheelchair. Sasuke then went behind and pushed his charge out of the room to the dining area of their small apartment.

Naruto was silent while he was being pushed by Sasuke. Thinking back to their argument, Naruto realized his mistake. He knew he should not have yelled at Sasuke and should not have lied to him, because he knew that his guardian had the right to know what was going on in his charge. And, he also knew he should have trusted Sasuke. But, he cannot bring himself to; too afraid of the rejection he would receive should he tell the truth. But then again, he thought he should at least say sorry for yelling.

Sasuke had noticed Naruto's quietness and the focus and frown the latter sported, but said nothing. He simply let the boy think and reflect.

"Sasuke…?"

The raven haired one heard the boy called him.

Sasuke placed Naruto in the table, walked around and sat across from the boy. Looking up at the blonde one, Sasuke hummed in inquiry.

"Well…" trailed off Naruto, fidgeting and looking down. Chancing a glance to Sasuke, he said, "I'm sorry." silently before he looked back down.

"It's fine." Said Sasuke, serving Naruto's plate. "It's wrong of me to force you anyway, so I, too, apologize."

"Hm." Naruto nodded meekly and thanked Sasuke for serving his plate before he started eating.

Morning came soon much to Naruto's chagrin as Sasuke pulled the blankets and picked up the boy off the bed, carrying him over his left shoulder, and brought the said boy in the bathroom. "C'mon. it's bath time."

Naruto, in his hazy state of mind, did not register what was happening until he felt he was being lifted up and dropped into a pool of lukewarm water in the bathtub, eliciting a yelp from him. "Wah! What-what's happening?" asked Naruto frantically.

"You're taking a bath." was Sasuke's reply as he worked on Naruto's clothes. And before the boy knew it, Sasuke had already dressed him into a pair of white shorts and a quarter sleeved blue hoodie, which sleeves were orange.

Sasuke stood before Naruto, who was on the bed, and the former noticed the inquisitive look the latter gave him. "We're going out." the teen told the boy.

"What...?" Naruto looked at Sasuke incredulously.

"I know you don't like it, but... Please?" Sasuke pleaded as he hoped that Naruto would agree. Lately, since his return, Sasuke noticed how the meek boy he had left behind for a mission became the Naruto he used to know gradually. And he thought that if his charge would decline to go out with him, then he will challenge the boy.

"No." the blonde boy frowned and folded his arms.

I knew it. Sasuke thought to himself. "Well..." he paused, observing Naruto's face that somehow gave him the idea that his charge was feeling confined because of his condition. "You can't be a ninja if you can't walk."

Looking up, Naruto asked with a frown. "What do you mean?"

"Do you really believe that you'll heal with just medications and basic rehab? You have to go out to for fresh air and sun. Sunlight is good for the bones and in your case you really need sun. You're looking pale because of the lack of vitamin D in your system. I bet no matter how gifted or talented you are you won't beat me when you grow up. You'll get killed easily on missions, too."

Naruto lingered at what he was told by his guardian and contemplated whether to go out or not. There was a raging and heated debate inside his head as he considered Sasuke. He was feeling bored these past days and longed to see other children his age. He was also anxious of the older citizens of Konoha. However, the next words that Sasuke said made up his mind.

"What? Are you scared, dead last?" Sasuke mocked that made Naruto scowled and glared at the teen

"Don't call me that, Sasuke. Just you know I'm not afraid, so I'm coming with you!" said Naruto indignantly.

"Of course. That's settled then" Sasuke smirked.


End file.
